Dominoes
by Sustain
Summary: For NoNaWriMo, so chapters should be added quickly as they are cranked out in crazy haste.
1. Preface

Preface.

As it comes around things in the galaxy aren't always as one would think. When one worlds problems crash down on another things change and people as well as those others change as well. When an Earthquake rocked the coast of Oregon and awoke a sleeping Volcano for a fleeting moment the small eruption disturbed the occupants of these that had been resting there after four million years. Those that proceeded to emerge came to a planet thriving with a species called humans. The Transformers as they called themselves broke into two warring factions, though to the human race most did not comprehend the differences. The first ones that made themselves known were the Decepticons; choosing to build a ship, and return to the planet which they came. The second one, the Autobots, took it upon themselves to see that the more violent Decepticons did not hurt the occupants of the planet called Earth.

Several years passed as well as several campaigns to 'handle' the Decepticon threat which was always being deliberated on came and passed. World leaders unable to reach a real agreement considered handing the Decepticon Leader Megatron the Energy he craved to persuade him to leave Earth while Optimus Prime Leader of the Autobots tried to evade that action by explaining that it would never be enough.

Autobots would battle their foes the Decepticons while humans who were not always innocent died in the crossfire. Decepticons not caring for humans or the meager facilities they created took what they desired from human and Autobot alike.

One might be lead to believe that the Decepticons were the ones that were on the side of Evil. Sometimes that is not always the case. One will steal a loaf of bread to feed their starving family if one has to, doesn't make them evil, just broke. Not that a Decepticon would take the time to inform you of such things, but in the grand scheme of it all it was very much this concept on Cybertron. Once the Decepticons on Earth reestablished contact with their home planet the guardian that over saw the Decepticon ruled areas of Cybertron informed Megatron of its status and lack of energy. Megatron already know when he had left that the planet itself was in need. The wars that had taken place over so many millennia and more had taken its told. His officers informed him that the Autobots had built a ship to explore and find energy, and in the Leader's optics, they had done just that. The Earth is rich in various resources, even the rays of our yellow sun can be used to create power. Decepticons if they are anything, are not stupid. Megatron took advantage of what was at hand and when the Spacebridge was established began to ship loads of Energon back to Cybertron.

Realistically the Decepticons were not stranded on Earth, Megatron choose to stay and send the energy harvested from this planet back to Cybertron. The question really is why? Some will say greed. Others will say selfishness, while yet others may even go as far as to say replenish Cybertron. Most of those that have come into contact or have lost a loved one to the many battles, don't care; they just want them to go back to where ever it is they came from.

How would you feel? Kill a few ants to save your picnic? Steal a loaf of bread to feed your child? Save those that cannot save themselves? Perhaps it is your turn to make the choice and find out where you stand? In the process perhaps the question of why may be answered, or even a darker side of yourself reviled.


	2. Chapter 1 Right or Wrong?

Chapter one

Wrong or Right?

The early morning sun peaked over the horizon when the alarm buzzer began its annoying tones. It wasn't even light outside, but the drive to work in traffic would be twice as bad if he had slept in any longer. With a heavy sigh and a stretch it was time to get out of bed and managed some breakfast and clothes. Maybe not in that order. He cracked the egg on the side of the pan and opened it over it to a loud sizzle. It was hard to surpass the smell of bacon and eggs with a few slices of toast once it hit the air, clothes would wait just a little longer. It wasn't as if he weren't wearing anything, but it was hardly proper to be walking around in boxers while it was only fifty degrees in the house. Andrew turned on the fan above the stove, and it caused his skin to ripple, and most of the hair on his body to stand on end due to the cold.

Today would be the day that marked a year at his company. A small scientific branch of power production looking into ways to increase output of present day generators. Since his time there Andrew had come up with several different things that allowed him to progress relatively easily. Of course that is exactly why he was hired. The difference was he was young fresh out of college and ready to go with while dreams of changing the world.

He ran his hand through the brown hair that gently seemed to just lay on his head and put his plate in the sink, he shivered again as the cold water splashed up just a little. It was defiantly time to dress. Doing so was made easy by the requirements of the lab. Simple white clothes and lab coat. Done.

His car, which was given to him by his parents, a small blue 4-door sedan, in the drive beeped as the alarm turned off and he opened the door. The sun now finally starting to light the area giving everything a rather luminous glow due to the due that accumulated over didn't even register in his mind as he absently got in and turned the key. The old Chevrolet cranked over with a squeal, that made his skin crawl. He growled lowly and shifted the car into reverse. It wasn't that he didn't have the money to get the infernal machine fixed, he didn't want to wait. He stopped in the street adjusting the visor to shield his eyes from the sun and thrust the car into drive then headed to the company.

Andrew always referred to work as "The Company." It was a privately funded institution, and its projects were secretive; though they dealt a lot with various government establishments. His particular department worked with power while others sometime dealt with weapons and a whole list of other things that Andrew knew happened but wasn't a part of. For that matter he was glad he wasn't, there were a lot of others that had got the boot for speaking about things and leaking information. Something else that bothered him was the way the superiors acted. On occasion they would cut everything that was going on and dismiss everyone for the day with pay. Not that he minded that part, he and a few of the others would just go down to the local pizza joined get a pie and a pitcher of beer. Sometimes they would wonder what it was that was happening at the company. Not many places any of them knew of that would just close the doors on the day without notice. Some suspected it had to deal with some of the research that it might be toxic or something else along those lines. Andrew didn't know really what to think, sometimes there was damages done to the facilities when they came to work the next day. He was smart enough to realize that the damage didn't come from the inside of the building, but there was a don't ask don't tell policy regarding things like that.

He turned the corner of his street and headed up the hill to the highway. He pushed the accelerator down merged into traffic, just as he figured it was still early enough to avoid the grid lock that was down town. Reaching the interchange he bared around to the right, the smaller duel lane high way that lead to the outskirts of town where the lab was. Only a few minutes later he pulled into his assigned parking and got out of the car with another stretch. Several of his coworkers were doing the same, some with their coffee cup sitting on the tops of their cars.

"Andy!" An older man called from a few spots down. "You're earlier than usual."

"Small breakfast today, I didn't feel like whipping up the pancakes." Andrew got his coat out of the backseat and put it around his shoulders; uniform complete. "And Jimmy, don't call me Andy."

"Oh, sorry." Jimmy answered. For him it was second nature to respond to a nick name.

"It's alright, there are a lot of Andy's and not as many Andrew's that's all."

"Yeah, true enough. Hey made any progress?" Jimmy was one of those guys that separated work from real life. He never even bothered to come to any functions with coworkers, or talk about his family while at work. All business.

"Actually I was wondering if you would come have a look at the small generator I've been working on."

"Really? Sure, I can do that. What's it doing?"

"I've used several different wire casings instead the usual copper, and the power changed. Broke the meter on it." Andrew explained.

"Broke the meter?" That surprised Jimmy. "We haven't had anything do that."

"Exactly why I want you to look at it. Something isn't right." The younger man shook his head. "Some of the wiring was done with that new compound."

"Oh you mean that new stuff," Jimmy waved his hand about as they began to walk toward the building. "What is it they called it?"

"High test 462."

"That's right. I've studied that stuff a little bit, I can't believe the pliability it has, I have not seen anything like it anywhere. The durability of metal and flexibility of." He waved his hand around again searching for the proper word.

"Skin?" Andrew answered. He was beginning to get annoyed by his coworkers inability to thing a sentence through.

The look on Jimmy's face told Andrew that he had not put that word to what he was thinking, but that was exactly what he needed to describe it. It was true, and Andrew had to admit it, there was nothing else like it he had seen anywhere. He had managed to talk to some of the other scientists that worked with raw materials such as the high test but they seemed to know nothing about it. In fact when he ordered the wire, he had to have direct specifications. He exhaled to himself in thought as he pulled open the door after swiping his name badge to unlock it. There was a lot he didn't want to know. Yet dealing with things that were directly related to his work made him curious. It made working rather hard at times, not knowing what he was working with bogged him down with tests and more tests. Andrew just figured that is what is job was 'tester'.

"That stuff is just like skin, stretches, bends, I have not figured a way to tear it yet. I mean dent it with a hammer and it just goes right back into its position." Jimmy slid his badge and followed Andrew to his lab. "You want me to have a look at it now or later?"

"Go ahead a look at it, I'll get the rest of this warmed up before we turn it on." Andrew got his clip board from the previous night and read though his notes from the previous day; just as he remembered. He flipped a few colored switches to corresponding power grids and prepared to start the generator. The sound of humming filled the room as he next flicked the switch turning on the generator.

To Jimmy's surprise the wiring reacted and spread out some creating leaves of metal giving the generator more surface area to create its charge. "That is an interesting reaction."

Andrew was too busy looking at read outs and other gages to notice the change, "Hmm? What's interesting."

The elder shook his head and pointed, "Look at the high test."

Putting his clipboard down Andrew placed his goggles on and came over to inspect the running generator. "Oh, I see now." He said walking this and that way around it. "I hadn't noticed that happening." He reached over and turned the machine off. "Well I suppose that would be the reason for the output."

"Yeah looks like it And-drew." Jimmy struggled with not using the nick name. "What is that stuff anyway?"

"I don't know. I ordered it specifically for this because that was the forum in the computer, I never expected it to have the properties that it does. I talked to some of the other engineers and they don't know what to make of it either. I'm starting to think that an outside company made it." Andrew rubbed the back of his head even with the gloves on.

Confusion set on his features, Jimmy tried to think. "We don't deal with outsiders."

"That's part of my point, it had to come from somewhere though," after a bit of a pause Andrew continued. "Maybe it was the private funders?"

"You think they would be that interested in something?"

"You have to wonder why the fund it if they weren't interested in it."

"You've got me on that one." Jimmy headed to the door. "Don't find any more out than you have to. You know how that goes around here."

"Yeah I know, I need to find out what other properties this might have though before I go skipping to the bosses saying I found something." Andrew turned the generator on again and watched it this time as it whirred to life.

* * *

For a time the entrance to the volcano that the alien robots known as Autobots called home it felt like a media circus. Someone was always stalking about trying to get an interview with Optimus Prime. Of course anyone that came within a set perimeter would alert their super computer Teletran-1's sensors and dispatch an Autobot office to investigate. This time Hound came out to see what was going on. More often than not it was his job to do so being a scout. His green armaments and human style jeep made doing this fairly easy for him. His sensors prepared for a Decepticon but his processor or mechanical brain already told him the likeliness of that was near zero. He stepped out into the sunlight and looked around his optics zooming in on several things that moved within the bit of forest that sporadically covered the mountain grounds. His sensor started to pick up trace heat signals and a sound that seemed like a human heart beat, although it was somewhat irregular.

"Come on out, I know your there." He spoke at a thicket of bushes.

The bush moved this way and that as whatever was in it attempted to free itself from said bush. After what seemed more like a struggle than should be Hound leaned over the bush and looked down into it. The human that was sitting there had managed to get all tangled up in some of the bushes long tendrils of fronds.

"Do you need help?" The jeep offered.

Short of screaming her fool head off the woman looked up and blatantly passed out.

Hound shook his metallic head. This had to be the eighth woman to do so in six weeks. He didn't understand it, the men didn't do it, they came and were eager to talk or take those picture things, some though came mad and throwing things at them even had some weapons, but the women; they fainted dead away. Hound cleared her of the foliage, and scooped her up into his hand then carried her inside.

"What'cha got there Hound?" A voice piped up from below. Its owner not metallic obviously informing Hound of its ownership without needed a view.

"Another woman fainted Spike." He shook his head again. "I just don't get it."

"You know how it is, see a tall dark handsome man and they just can't help themselves." Spike was trying to cheer Hound up.

"Maybe I should ask Carly about that." The jeep teased back.

Spike blushed, he had a huge crush on Carly and he didn't even know if she knew he liked her. "Where you taking her?"

"Usual spot, Perceptor and Ratchet will be able to deal with her better than I can. And I can't just leave her in the bushes." Hound's pace didn't slow for Spike, the human had gotten used to keeping up, at least while the Transformer s were walking. Sometimes he wished he had like jet skates still.

"Uh yeah." Spike allowed his pace to slow as he thought about it.

Hound continued through the mass base that had once been a space ship that was meant to carry he and his crew mates to a planet where they could harvest energy and bring it back to Cybertron. Of course when Megatron and the Decepticons came up and began to fire on it in their own ship it caused both ships to steer off course and theirs to hit the side of the Volcano where it was currently not. They hadn't really discovered where the other ship had landed. Most of the Autobots figured since it didn't come up on their sensors that it was buried in rock. Since the awakening though they had managed to get most of the ships systems working, though it was still impossible to remove it from its place, over the years the heated magma had lodged itself into some of the sections and created a grip that would not allow them to move it. They had become stuck on Earth for that reason. Regardless of what the humans thought they could rebuild something to take them home; though Optimus Prime in his infinite wisdom had decided to stay and fight to keep the inhabitance of this little planet called Earth alive.

The door slide open and Hound found a place to put the human on that wouldn't bother the others. "Perceptor?" He glanced around wondering if he had somehow missed the scientist; he was sure he hadn't.

From around the corner and down the hall Perceptor came his head cocked slightly to one side in curiosity. "What is it? I am frightfully busy."

Shaking his head Hound lead Perceptor to where the human had been laid. "She fainted, just like the rest of them. "

"Really Hound, you need to stop jumping out of the shrubbery like that." Though he didn't do it often Preceptor did have a slight sense of humor.

The green jeep looked up, he hadn't expected that kind of comment. His blank stare at the scientists told his surprise and slight confusion.

"Never mind." Preceptor adjusted his vision and zoomed in on the woman. "Did she hurt herself when she lost consciousness?"

"No, at first I thought she was going to scream but it never came." Hound explained.

"I see." With a gentle touch Perceptor managed to take basic life signs, and make sure that there had been no external bleeding, or broken bones. "It would appear that she will recover easily. Once of course she has regained consciousness."

"Alright, I'll head back to my duties then." Hound turned to leave.

"Have you informed Prime of our guest?"

"I will do that on my way." The jeep called back.

The woman stirred she turned over before opening her eyes not realizing that she wasn't at home in her bed. Her dusty brown hair covered her face, and shaded her from the bright lights of the medical facility. A soft moan escaped her throat as she stirred once more, memories coming back to her of her last moments before the proverbial lights went out. Her almost gray eyes popped open, as she stood up rapidly and looked around. Catching sight of Perceptor she immediately screamed.

* * *

Water pressure forced the hulking body of the base known as the Nemesis to creek. The metallic skin had been created years ago in the planet it now rested on; Earth. Its reinforced structure created for space travel was not prepared for the crash it took when sabotage crippled it and sent it sprawling into the ocean. Since that time however the inhabitance of the craft had adjusted it forcing it to conform for their usage. While still resembling the ship it once was several modifications were made giving it a small appearance of cityscape in the surrounding area. Surprisingly the hull was not covered with barnacles and plant life like one might think it should be. It was in fact rather clean in appearance, and actually looked smooth. Not that anyone would bother to go and look, the automated defense systems saw that nothing came within proximity of the base, thing included sea life. One added feature that was a must was the elongated tower that rose from the depths of the base to above sea leave to allow those coming and going to remain dry. It was simply more efficient than expending the energy traveling though the water. Consequently that made the base inside rather dark and dank. The lighting that lay sporadic in the corridors as well as main rooms came from recessed lights around the bottoms of the metallic walls. It was this tower that rose now dropping water out of its crevices and workings on its way to greet its occupants. The elongated door opened like a draw bridge, complete with metallic thunder as it completed its opening cycle. The hand full of jets that entered did so without slowing, as there was no need for a landing strip; each one changed form from jet to alien robot as it neared the floor of the entrance. As the last one passed the opening the great pillar closed its invitation and began to sink back into the depths which it came. The seam closed, and with it sealing all the daylight out. The hum of the tower moment was taken for granted by the Decepticons that occupied the entry way. Their own internal fans and systems creating a similar hum on a small scale to them it seemed like a natural sound. As it hit ground there was a deep almost penetrating bass thud.

The leader of this pack stepped forward his optics already switched over into an infrared band giving him the illumination to navigate. His own radar would have done similar but the confines of the structure made it difficult at times. The great door before him engraved with the Decepticon insignia they all wore split down the center and opened automatically, its sensors prepared for their arrival. Turning to his left he took only a few more steps to reach another door similar to the one he had just passed only this lead to the command room where he should find his leader, and be able to give his report. The five that followed him did so in silence, the sound of the steps the only thing betraying their presence. They had long since adopted the solar cycle of Earth's rotation keeping them running on an a semi twenty-four hour scale; it had almost been necessary when they had implicated the space bridge, its alignment needed to be precise. The command room was much brighter than the entry way or all that he had just came from and as the door slid before him he reverted his optics to a standard view to avoid any feedback from the sensitive infrared. Two of the five that accompanied him took places in the command center they knew when it came down to it was best to be away from their Air Commander.

Skywarp exchanged a glance with Thundercracker as they started working at their respective consoles. It was not hard to anticipate what would be going on. The Air Commander Starscream would go into Megatron's office to report their mission results, and of course there would be an altercation that would end with the blast of a fusion cannon. Skywarp's wings shuttered slightly at the thought. He had the sound memorized, not for the fact he himself have been hit with it once or twice but how many times he had been in proximity to it on the battle field. Everyone here knew it, most others back on their home planet of Cybertron knew it. Even the Autobots knew the sound of it. If anything was ever predicable, it was the sound of that cannon after Starscream had entered Megatron's office.

The Air Commander stepped up to the office door and glared at it for a moment. A noise would be heard by the others, something he refused to allow happen. Starscream was not a coward. Starscream did as he was told and if the plan was flawed that was not his responsibility. He knew this was going to happen. His analytical mind went over the plans as a good leader should, though he had enough games attempting to point them out. Did it matter after all to receive the cannon before or after the mission. He forced a growl to silence. It was becoming obvious that he could not do it before hand; while the mission would actually yield results but leave him smoking in the repair bay, and Megatron to lead and reap the rewards of a mission gone right. Not at all what he wanted. So for now he decided to keep his mouth shut. Simple, easy keep his head down do as told. Of course Laserbeak was dispatched to follow and the leader would compare his report with that of the Air Commander so Starscream could not lie. Thus no point in waiting. He stepped to the door, reached over, and pressed the pad that signaled someone's arrival.

Naturally Laserbeak had already been back and Megatron has his report in his ebony hand when the chime came on. Now was the time to debate. Should he allow Starscream in and bother to listen to what he had to say, or leave him standing there for the others to see just how important the leader thought of his report. An evil smirk came to his face, he would make him wait; make him wait just long enough that the others in the command center would know that he knew what the report said, before Starscream could report it. It was a good effect, in fact it kept some of them in line as they never knew what Megatron was having reported back to him. The signal came again and again he ignored it choosing to finish reading Laserbeak's report instead. The mission had failed. The Energon that had been collected and stacked for transportation had exploded when a stray bolt of heated plasma struck and end cube and a chain reaction spread through the life giving energy until nothing was left. There were several things the seeker could have done to prevent it from happening, one being not to leave it in an open area, a second one, subspacing it. Neither was instructed to be done, but with a little common sense one or the other should have been.

Thrust and Dirge took a step back the second signal was not a good sign, though they had not been dismissed they had the urge to get as far away as possible. Their race was all but immortal, but war takes a toll, if it had not have been for war most of their population would still be here. After all robots can be fixed and upgraded; however once the spark of life has been extinguished it's just an empty shell, like any other inanimate object. Definitely not something they had wanted to become, of course militarily if they had not been dismissed then if he wanted Starscream could have just as easily fired on them as well. Ramjet the third one had not moved. Of the six that had gone on the mission he had taken the most damage, he was on guard as the Autobots had pulled up, he sent word that the enemy had arrived then of course engaged them in battle. In the few moments that he had been alone, he had sustained several direct hits which of course is going to happen when you are the only target. His wingmates had looked him over their readouts telling them that no vital systems had taken any damage and he was able to fly back under his own power, yet the leak of fluid down his left side, the shattered chest that had been a cockpit for his altmode, and several burnt holes in his wings told the story that he was going to be in need of repairs. True the others had some scorch marks here and there but it was all superficial markings on their armor.

Dirge actually took a second to look at the five others two were without markings at all, one he nearly grinned to himself over. Skywarp his name said it all, he was a teleporter and if anything was aimed at him he teleported out. The purple and black jet used it while around the base to wreak havoc with others playing small pranks and tricks. The other however was the Air Commander himself. Starscream had not one spot, scorch mark, or burn on his frame. Somehow that did not sit right with Dirge, he had been taking notice of simple things like that for a while now. He also noted what the red and blue seeker was doing most often during the battle as to figure out why he had not been hit. It did not seem to make sense. A hand on his shoulder caught his attention, Ramjet had used him to steady himself. Dirge's optics darted around as he fought the recoil of contact. The amount of fuel that Ramjet was leaking seemed to increase and was now steadily dripping from the crack between his chest plate and his cockpit.

"Starscream." It was one solitary word, but it seemed to echo through the room and as it did each occupant turned to regard him surprised that he had broke the silence.

Without any motion other than his head he glared at Dirge, flaring his optics bright scarlet in warning. "Can't you see I'm busy."

Dirge simply held his hand that had fuel on it where Starscream could see it as an obvious sign of what needed to be done.

Starscream repressed another growl and placed his finger on the door signaler again, "Get him down to medbay for repairs. Dismissed."

Thrust came up and helped Dirge take Ramjet out of the room, easiest way of escape. Though naturally Decepticons were not particularly fond of one another there was subunit groups that held tight bonds, one would be this triad of seekers. While they didn't have an official leader Dirge had been the one to take point and he had sooner than later became spokes person for them when it came down to it. If one of them was damaged or missing it would leave the other two without a team. That meant they were less likely to be called upon and in return not receive their rations. The three left through the large door.

A exhale that might be considered a sigh hung in the room after the door was closed. Skywarp had a longing to go as well but he had his duties. Thundercracker gave him a sideways glance in an effort to shut him up before anything else happened. Skywarp however did not bother to look he knew the risk he was taking though after several millions of years he also new Starscream well enough to know what he could get away with. His dark wings flicked slightly with the agitation displaying his dislike of the situation.

Gritting his dentals Starscream again reached to press the signal alerting the leader to his presence. He had enough of this, he was not some common troop to be toyed with. His right hand slowly lowered his metallic digits folding in and making a fist that seemed to grind on his palm. He could feel the hydraulic fluid being pushed into his wrist tightening his grip even farther. He raised the blue fist to his optic level the thought of knocking on a door was absolutely ridiculous, and then another thought passed through his cerebro processor. His null ray rifle had come up in his view just past his fist, its white tip already pointed at the door albeit in a diagonal manor. He slid his arm sideways at the pad that contained the signal, coding, and entry buttons and for one instant let the weapon charge. His attention was drawn as the door finally opened permitting him to see his fate out.


	3. Chapter 2 Cowardice

Chapter 2

Cowardice

"You know Andrew you've been working on that generator for two months, it isn't like you to not figure it out by now." Jimmy had been called over to have another look at the generator that pretty much looked as it did when he first saw it. "What's it reading this time."

With a heavy sigh Andrew spouted all the stats and the lack of increase since the first week he had it. "I don't get it, I've tried everything so far that's worked on several other applications but this one doesn't want to work with me." He rubbed the back of his head trying to rack his brain for anything he hadn't already thought of.

"Have you tried reversing the polarity?" Jimmy thought it was cliché but sometimes on the job when working with a power source you have to try everything.

For an instant Andrew looked dumbfounded. "I can't believe you just said that."

"What? Why?"

"I think of all the things I did try that wasn't one of them." Headed over to his console Andrew got to work. "I should have known to try it." He muttered then gave himself a face palm as he waited for the new equations to work in the computer.

"Hey, even the best of us forget things once in a while. And well I've been watching some DR. WHO." Jimmy laughed he wasn't even sure if Andrew knew what that was.

"Whatever that is he might just have saved my job." The hum of the generator stopped, and with a whine engaged reverse. He pulled his goggles down off the top of his head Jimmy doing the same. "Well let's see what happens now."

The generator began to hum again, this time at a higher pitch. Andrew tore his eyes off the computer screen for a second to see how the high test was reacting. This time the metal lining did not fan out and create a large surface area to conduct to, it actually looked thinner, and much more wire like than when he had installed it. Through the gaps in the sides he could now see the arch of power bring produced as it went around. A beep on the console alerted him to the readings. Gages were beginning to spike, while others were pinned at max. Whatever the metal was it was doing much more than he expected on this scale. An ohm meter blinked twice and then began to melt down.

"Alright that's enough, I'm going to destroy more equipment and you know Martin won't like that." Andrew started the power down sequence. Another meter beeped indicating rating were off its charts.

Jimmy shook his head, "If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it. Do you know what this stuff could do for efficiency?"

"I know, isn't it great? Jimmy it is our job to find stuff like this." Andrew finished his typing and then got out his hand held not pad, he looked over the generator and took note of each difference he could find. "I'll need higher calibrated sensors. These ones were never rated to go this high."

"I don't know about that one Andrew," Jimmy took stock of what Andrew was using. "Unless you're going to invent new ones I think this is it."

Now that was something else that Andrew had not thought about. Sure he knew he wanted to get more for his money, but by the looks of the results he was getting much more. "Maybe. Then I'll have a patent too, how about that?" He kept taking notes.

The loud speaker popped cracked then hissed its way to life, "All vents for today have been cancelled. Floor workers are to leave immediately. You have one hour to vacate."

Andrew's head snapped up, "Not now, why now?"

Jimmy was already headed for the door, "I don't know I don't want to know. I just know that we're still going to get paid."

Again Andrew sighed, "Right when I was just making progress." He started cleaning up and moving things to their proper place, he had just worked his way to removing the melted meter when Martin's voice came over the loud speaker again.

"Ten minutes."

That was it, he needed out, any longer and he risked his job, or who knows what else. Whatever happened when they shut the company down when they did this he did not really want to know. He put down his note pad and glanced around the room again to make sure he had everything in place for the following day. He had to into that habit the first week he was there and the Supervisor Martin had stressed to him not to take anything home, but he, and his clothes. It was an odd feeling as they really didn't have all that much security, and it was not as if they were patted down coming or going, yet, others had been caught taking things and fired. Part of him was curious, how did they notice that the others had taking things? Who was watching? He headed out the lab door and down the hall to the door that lead out of the building. Looking at his watch he noticed that it had only been three hours into his shift. Not bad for considering he would be off now and get paid for twelve. Across the forecourt area and into the parking area most of the cars had left. He saw Martin getting into his own car rather fast. That car came to life with a roar of and engine, and was thrown into reverse and promptly moved. If he hadn't had suspicions before he did not. After all this meant that all that was left there were the head researcher Ambrose, and the plant manager Dean. He pressed the unlock button on his key ring and his car chirped as it unlocked the door. Getting in he placed the key in the ignition the put on the seat belt. Looking around then turning the key the car whined and then stopped. He turned his view to the steering wheel as if to ask it what the problem was. Naturally the car was not about to tell him what issues it may have. He turned the key again and the whine seemed louder. He knew though was already supposed to be off property. He looked at the dash and its gages and then held the key tight as if it were going to make a difference.

"I promise we'll go get that fixed right now, if you just start. We need to go, now." He wanted to will the car to life though as a scientist he knew that would not happen, still he had to try it anyway. He turned the key once more and the standard whine came this time as the car turned over and started.

"YES!" Quickly, he turned and made sure it was clear then shoved it into reverse. He stopped at the light the joined his parking area to the street, naturally it was red. For the most part though he breathed in a bit of a sigh and began to relax. Per the usual, a few of his coworkers had asked him to join them, though their choice of place this time was different he sat there watching the light waiting as he thought about if he should go or not. His hands slid around the steering wheel and he decided not to, he needed to have his car serviced.

A deep rumble gave way to window vibrations as the light finally turned from read to green, he made his left turn and headed for the high way. This area was nowhere near an air port, or military base, yet he knew the sound of the jet engines since he had worked with them at the company. Pulling on to the highway entrance, the over pass provided him with a side view of three jets headed his way. Under most circumstances people don't think much of a trio of jets flying by; most would pass it off as routine, or something of the sort. If they hard really got a look at the jets they might wonder a bit, one silver one, no big deal, most jets were grey anyway. One almost all blue one; alright the Blue Angels were a whole crew of blue planes. As the trios shifted flight and headed more the way he came rather than the way he was going, he saw the third one. One black one; they were too far away to really make out detail, but the colors stood out against the baby blue sky. Andrew tried to keep his attention on the highway, the wheels in his mind turning at a rapid pace. He wasn't one to watch a lot of TV, of course when you do not have a lot of time you do not do much of anything. He looked back at the formation that seemed to slow, but his vision needed to be elsewhere. He forced the thoughts out of his mind and pulled off the highway to the mechanics place that his parents went to, he knew the car well and would be able to handle whatever it needed.

After checking it in and the diagnosis made, Andrew walked across the street to the little doughnut shop, got a cup of coffee and a news paper, then came back. He sat in the waiting room and opened the paper. The front page always had some story about the Alien Robots War, most of the times calling it unfair, and asking for an uprising of force to send them home. Shaking his head Andrew did not really care about it, it had never effected not to his knowledge anyway. The story itself didn't catch his eye but the photo of the jets did. The same formation he had just seen though the black and white paper didn't give the detail that was conformation he was fairly certain that it was the same ones. He got up and walked out the side walk taking a look in the direction of the company. Too far, couldn't see anything from where he was. He should have left when he was told, he didn't need to any of this information, not that anyone could read his mind.

"Something on your mind Andrew?" The mechanic came over cleaning his tool with a rag.

"No, just a lot of things to think about." He said turning around.

"She's all done." Even though the man was cleaning his tool, he himself was filthy.

"That was faster than I expected." Andrew said with a smile. "What do I owe you?"

"Cindy will have the paper work inside, belts are fairly easy, cheap too." His voice seemed rather satisfied with that.

Nodding Andrew turned around. Cindy was a nice girl who looked obviously only doing office work to pay her cell phone bill or some such thing. He entered the office and stepped up to the counter.

The older teen sat back reading one of those teen magazines starting all those boy heart throbs. She used her index finger to slide her glasses back on her face; then looked up. "Mr. Coleman. Your car is done. Looks like it was just the serpentine belt, did it give you any trouble or just scream like a banshee?"

Andrew chuckled, despite her appearance it seemed Cindy knew more about cars that he suspected. "She's been crying at me for sometime then today before I came here decided she didn't want to start any more. "

"It's only going to be fifty-five, seventy-five. The new belt alone was thirty-five, and well we know you got to pay Willie." She handed him the paper.

"True true." He headed over his bank card. "Say, you're here often right? Do you ever hear jets flying over head?"

"Here? Nope, sometimes the pneumatics sound like it, but you know." She held up her iPod. " I don't hear a thing."

"Ah." He signed the receipt and she handed him his keys. "Thanks anyway." Getting back into the car he turned it on without issue, he smiled thinking he should have done it weeks ago and would have if he had known it would have been so easy. Needless to say, he was off and on his way.

* * *

The dark room was welcoming to the nightmare she had been having. Running, screaming, an endless chase that seemed to take her through what would have been a lush thick beautiful forest, but it was nothing but an unsurpassable obstacle. She sat up and looked at the bed, the realization of where she was finally get in. Standing only to find the bed slinking into the slot on the wall didn't appeal to her. She placed her hand on it and it stopped its motion and returned to its full length. Automated, she thought. Nicole Quinton looked up and around, the goal had been to get inside and see how things were done, but her friends had given her wild stories about what the giant robots would do to her if they caught her. Her argument was that these robots, or Autobots did not do that type of thing. Oh how they had taunted her about it too, she had spoken up for those Autobots saying that it was not fair that the other robots were making such a mess out of things and they all got the blame. Sometimes humans disgusted her; never could look past what their eyes told them to see the truth beneath. Ah well, it didn't matter now, here she was in their base, and after a second of making sure she had everything, nodded and completed the thought, in one piece. She looked around for what she could see, but the dark was well dark. If the bed was automated she wondered if the lights were too.

"Lights." In an instant the beamed on soft and turned themselves up as if simulating daylight. She covered her hand to shield her eyes until she could adjust. After a few moments she took stock, she was still dressed in her hiking shorts, and white tank top, she had come with a light jacket and boots as well but it was easy to see they had been placed at the edge of the bed. Nicole knew where she was, the Autobots base, where in it she had no clue. Well if things were that automated .. she thought might as well try it. "Where am I?"

"Location: Spike's personal quarters." A rather monotone voice answered, from everywhere and nowhere.

"That doesn't help, I don't know where Spike's quarters are." She did not feel stupid talking to the computer.

"Restate inquiry." The voice said.

Definitely automated Nicole thought. "Who are you?" To her it was a valid question, at least to her.

"Designation Teletran–one." The voice seemed to take on a snippy type of attitude.

"Okay, I should have known." Anyone that knew anything about the Autobots knew that their computer was not necessarily sentient like they were, but it was part of them nonetheless, they treated it like one of them. "Am I a prisoner?"

"Negative." Teletran's voice had dropped his tone.

Now she had a lot to think about, if she wasn't a prisoner, then she would leave whenever she wanted, or maybe stay and wonder around. First thing was first she had to get her phone out. As a whole her friends had decided that they would not allow her to bring a camera, not a blatant one in, so a cell phone camera was just going to have to do. She got it out and attempted to call her best friend, only there was no signal. She could only guess that meant that where ever Spike's quarters were, they were pretty deep within the base. "Where can I find some food."

A small station that was recessed into the wall blinked.

Nicole got up to inspect the station. It was fairly dark for the most part, a small square opening in the middle with a gate in the center. As she neared it another voice spoke. "State request."

"You'll just give me whatever I want?" She smiled, this was something she could actually get used to.

"Negative, replicator is programmed to serve age appropriate meals." This voice was much more feminine than the one that Teletran used.

"In that case I want a chicken pot pie, and a Pepsi." Nicole watched as the food soundlessly appeared out of what seemed like thin air. She took the plate that it sat on first testing it to see if it was going to be hot. When it was not she lifted it and took it to the desk and pulled out the chair to eat, and realized there was no utensil. Looking around for something her attention was caught by the door opening.

"Loose something?" Spike asked.

"I managed to get this thing working, but it didn't give me a fork."

"You have to be pretty specific with it, when Bumblebee first installed it, it didn't replicate the plates, or cups either, it was a big mess." He walked to the machine and demanded a fork which it promptly fuzzed to a solid. "Here you go, but can you not eat on the desk?"

Nicole took the fork and got up from the chair. "Where?"

"Teletran another chair."

From the wall a panel moved and a second chair slid out.

"There, I don't have visitors much. " Spike explained.

She rounded the chair and sat, taking a bite, "This is really good."

"We used my mom's old recipes for it." He answered sitting down in his desk chair. "So uh what are you doing here anyway?" He watched her eat as if she had been starving.

During a breath Nicole emptied her mouth, "A dare really. Friends think all Transformers are war machines, and are here just to dissect us and use for their own purposes.

"The News crews are really harsh about that and it seems they like to follow the Decepticons around." Spike nodded. "That is humans though. They always see what is negative never the positives."

Nicole cocked her head to the side as she took another bite, "What do you mean?"

"Take schools for example, your teacher ever have a red pen?"

"Yeah, don't they all?"

Spike smiled slightly. "That's the point, they always mark what is wrong, never what is right, you go through life learning like that. People ask how many did you miss on the test, not how many you got right."

"I see. Like the driver's test, you're only allowed to miss five." Her particular example was still fresh in her mind since she had only taken her test two weeks before.

"Something like that yeah. It takes people time to open their eyes and adjust to what is really going on." Spike leaned forward and turned his computer on. "You know I wasn't always friends with them either."

"You were the first one though weren't you?" Naturally Nicole knew all the stories like everyone else. The Autobots had pretty much adopted Spike and his dad Sparkplug as their liaisons to Earth.

"Yeah, and Optimus doesn't want a lot of humans so we've managed to keep those that come headed right back out."

To Nicole that sounded like a hint that she would have to leave. "Optimus is the leader right? He makes the rules.

"They aren't just rules, I mean having them show up on Earth changed a lot of things. Some people try to worship them as gods. And all those religions we had? Most of their stuff went right out the window too. If we allowed people in here all the time we'd have this place full in no time."

Now that made much more sense. Nicole took her last bite and nodded. "So then, you'll be showing me the door here in a minute?"

"Yeah something like that, but if you want to have a look around and meet a few of the guys I suppose that can't hurt anything." Spike liked this girl. She understood why he did the things he did.

She looked at her plate for a moment, then to Spike. He reached for it and placed it back on the replicators try. "That would be great."

"Grab your things, we can make a roundabout trip to the front entrance." He stood and fix the cuff of his pants. "Oh by the way, my name is Spike. What's yours?"

For an instant it was like Nicole forgot her own name, it was all like a dream anyway right? "Mine's Nicole, no 'H'. Dad didn't want the other kids calling me Nick-hole."

"Can you imagine Spike?" He raised a brow and smiled slightly.

"Who are we going to meet first?" Nicole laced up her boots and grabbed her jacket.

"Bumblebee is just outside, he was posted to make sure you didn't get lost or anything."

Nicole's face spread with excitement. "Bumblebee?" She stood near the door and it slid open. She leaned out just a little looking left then looking right, which was right at Bumblebee.

"Hello." The Autobot greeted.

"Wow." Nicole answered. "He looks a lot smaller on TV." Her eyes scanned him up and down. Then she reached out to touch him lightly on his chest.

"You can touch me." Bumblebee smiled. "I won't bite."

"Yeah right Bumblebee." Spike joined them in the hall.

"Bumblebee? Are you going to walk with us?"

"Yeah, it is my duty to see that everything goes well. After all it would not look good if you left and told wild stories about how we did things to you and all that kind of stuff." Bumblebee rattled off what he was thinking.

Nicole took in everything, his bright yellow color, the Volkswagen beetle mode that he had for his transformation. Her mind could easily fit together some of the pieces and see how it worked. She was awestruck for a moment and didn't even say anything as her hand rested on the high gloss paint of what would be Bumblebee's roof.

* * *

It was a smaller office than some might think it should be, but Optimus Prime sat at a desk that left not much room for much else, other than the two chairs near the door. He did not really like that he needed an office, but it was standard and convenient when someone felt they had to say something of a rather personal nature. Most of the work he did could be done outside on the bridge, or face to face with whomever it was he need to talk to at the time. For the moment though he was going though a few of the damage reports that Ratchet has sent from the last battle with the Decepticons. Of all the reports he disliked these the most. However it was the most efficient way to see what was done, and what condition his fellow Autobots were in. He also noted there was a woman that had been seen after she had lost consciousness on their grounds. He thought about that for a moment. Some of the humans were very helpful and understanding while some were just the opposite. Some of what they termed human nature did not compute to is processor. At a glance he considered the thought of it not unlike he and his Autobots and Megatron and the Decepticons. Both from one planet and derived of a single species but learning very different points of views to a point where they had broken into two separate races. Even then the other Autobots did not want to accept that, the change had happened so many long years ago that some were not even aware of it. Here and now there was nothing that could be done about it. He had sworn to protect the humans, it did not matter if they had sided with he and his Autobots or the Decepticons. He read more about the girl, and the fact that she had been taken to Spike's to see if the shock would be less overwhelming when she woke next. Optimus Prime had nodded to himself, that is why they had asked for Bumblebee to be posted at his door.

He got up from the chair and rounded the desk just as the door opened to permit Jazz in. "S'cuse me Prime. I was just commin' to tell ya, end of shift reports are all clear."

Optimus towered over Jazz, his diesel frame much broader. "Thank you Jazz." His transformation that of a much larger vehicle than Jazz's small Porsche, made it so that the smaller Autobot could not get around him.

"Any word on the little lady?" Most of the Autobots by now had heard word that another woman had come into the base. Their net work of intelligence was nothing like human gossip, but seemed to travel just as fast.

"I was just going to see for myself." Prime answered.

Jazz moved back and out of the door into the hall, as Optimus joined them. Being leader of a group of his peers had not always been easy, especially since their enemy had been extremely smart and cunning. Optimus however had grown into the role rather quickly due to the help and changes that Alpha Trion did to him in the conversion from Orion Pax. He himself believed that one day the two split races of Autobots and Decepticons might unite to make one race of Cybertronians again. However the outlook on it seemed bleak. His drive to do what was right made the choice for him. If Megatron and the Decepticons wanted to enslave others then Optimus Prime and the Autobots would do their best to keep them free.

Walking a long Jazz started to hum a tune. His inner antenna were always tuned into something the humans were playing over radio waves, and every once in a while one would stick out to him and he would enjoy it. Each step he took was accented with a slight bounce to the unheard beat. As those around could only hear the hum which Jazz began to do a little louder. He turned down a hall already knowing where the girl had been taken and notice he was alone. His hum stopped as did his forward motion, as he looked around to see where Optimus had gone. In the corridor behind him the leader had been stopped by Perceptor who had was currently filling him in on all the details of what had been going on. He shook his head and turned the music off, as much as he liked it, it was a little bit of a distraction. Turning on his heal he walked back the few steps and covered the distance joining his crew mates.

"Every time she woke, she screamed and then lost consciousness again." Preceptor explained. "It did not matter what I did."

"Was there any reason for it?" Optimus Prime had on occasion had that happen to him as well, accept normally most of the surprised humans only fainted once. Having heard stories of the Transformers and news propaganda never seems to be enough to fully convince some humans that they actually exist. In any other situation it might be amusing to experience.

"Nothing that I can find. There is nothing wrong with her at all." Perceptor shook his head baffled. "This is why I asked Spike to take her. I thought perhaps if she did not wake to a view of one of us that she might not fall back into unconsciousness."

"I was on my way to see how that had gone." Optimus confessed.

"I suggest radioing Bumblebee to see if they have met yet, she may not be ready for you." Preceptor rubbed the back of his helm. "Just in case."

Optimus nodded opening a panel on his left wrist, and typed in Bumblebee's COM code. For Autobots it was similar to texting, rather than oral communication; it made things easier when trying to keep things quiet, which in this case Optimus did not feel like he should scare the girl any farther. After a few moments of silent waiting Optimus bring his attention back to Perceptor. "It would seem that Bumblebee is in contact with her now. She is overcoming the shock."

Perceptor nodded. That was one step he could not take. "Fascinating though. Most fascinating."

Jazz just stood there listing to his music waiting for Optimus to start again. His foot was tapping to the unheard beat as he bounced one finger in time.

Perceptor watched interested in the others actions. Optimus got the coordinates of where Bumblebee was with the girl and started heading down the corridor. Jazz watched and then began to follow.


	4. Chapter 3 Curiosity

Chapter 3. Curiosity

There was an eerie silence in the command room a few beeps here and there were heard as the fingers tapped the consoles. Skywarp looked over to Thundercracker and mouthed _'I wonder what's going on?'_

Thundercracker did not bother to answer verbally, shrugged instead. It had been nearly twenty minutes since the door closed behind Starscream and there had not been one sound. Thundercracker turned the other way to look at the only other in the command room; the third in command Soundwave. Near the back of the room working on a console that was dark. He sat with his back to them but that did not mean anything, his sensor s so highly trained he could paint a picture of what was going on just by the sound that was being heard. Skywarp had to glance over his shoulder to see, but he did not have to look he knew he was there. Soundwave was always there quietly watching, or listening. Thundercracker turned his attention back to the console and tried to clear his mind. He did not want deal with anything but the work at hand until his shift was over.

Soldering wires here and there then changing the program to fit the modification. Soundwave new these things easily and this modification would allow him to connect to the ship's sensors and increase his own range tenfold. What he wanted was to allow him to tap into Autobots coded communications, unfortunately the volcanic rock was causing issues with how deep his abilities could penetrate. Self improvement was always something to be taken seriously. He had done so several times which so far had got him as far as he was. Just a few of those modifications had created his minions, a set of five creations that made up a communications and reconnaissance team that had been unsurpassed buy any other singular being. The fact of the matter was he was no longer a singular entity. The creations that were stored, and for the most part within him and dormant until called upon. Two of which were aerial, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw a pair of condor like birds with jets that would allow them to do several things at once, audio visual recording, database hacking, as well as size wise they could nearly enter any ventilation area to attain knowledge from inside. Ravage, he had a cat appearance, he was silent black and fast. Most often used for spy work and getting into places no one else can. The last pair, two that seemed to look and act like a set of twins these two actually taking on a robotic mode instead of an animal type mode. Rumble, endowed with power over subsonic vibration his arms could amplify the sound into the ground creating Earthquakes. Frenzy, his opposite, endowed with control over high frequencies pierced the air with such shrill sound it could shatter glass, ear drums, audio receptors and much more. Soundwave himself, and arsenal of sonic weapons, as well as his concussion blaster and mini-shoulder mounted rocket launcher. Soundwave himself had one other power that put fear in the spark s of others; Telepathy. This was a power that most did not understand, it was very very rare. There were very few Cybertronians that had a touch of this ability, where Soundwave had mastered it.

The dark blue figure in the back did not look at the other occupants, he kept about his work as if they had not come into the room at all. His attention divided and doing multiple tasks with ease he knew already what they were doing, saying, and even thinking. Soundwave knew what was going on in Megatron's office as well. He did not need the telepathy to tell him, he was close enough to hear it. The leader had not acknowledged that his Second had come in for several more minutes before finally addressing him. Things of this nature were common to Soundwave. The Decepticon structure was made up of kill or be killed, if you wanted advancement you took it. Starscream had been appointed as Second in command over Soundwave; something that grated on the Communications Experts sensors, but he was a logical being and realized it would be preferable to have an Air Commander with the skills that Starscream possessed. For a while it worked well until the faithful day when Starscream had changed his mind and wanted more. If Soundwave had been anyone else he might have shook his head at the thought, he however sat motionless his hands never flinching at their work. It was part of his façade to see that no one could read his, thoughts his emotions, and had has learned to be stoic, and was now an expert at that.

The dark blue figure in the back did not look at the other occupants, he kept about his work as if they had not come into the room at all. His attention divided and doing multiple tasks with ease he knew already what they were doing, saying, and even thinking. Soundwave knew what was going on in Megatron's office as well. He did not need the telepathy to tell him, he was close enough to hear it. The leader had not acknowledged that his Second had come in for several more minutes before finally addressing him. Things of this nature were common to Soundwave. The Decepticon structure was made up of kill or be killed, if you wanted advancement you took it. Starscream had been appointed as Second in command over Soundwave; something that grated on the Communications Experts sensors, but he was a logical being and realized it would be preferable to have an Air Commander with the skills that Starscream possessed. For a while it worked well until the faithful day when Starscream had changed his mind and wanted more. If Soundwave had been anyone else he might have shook his head at the thought, he however sat motionless his hands never flinching at their work. It was part of his façade to see that no one could read his, thoughts his emotions, and had has learned to be stoic, and was now an expert at that. He knew that it gave others an eerie feeling while he was around, and the rumors went around about the telepathy doing much more than he was capable, leading into telekinesis, and other such things. Soundwave let it go though, the more they feared him the more power he had over them. It was noticeable as well. Some would question Starscream's orders to which the Air Commander had to threaten them, where as Soundwave's simple orders were followed to the letter.

The chair swiveled around so that Megatron could see Starscream. His optics gauged the Seeker a habit he had, since his days building the Decepticon army in the Gladiator army in the arena. He shook his head betraying his dismay with the performance before Starscream could even speak. If he had stood from his chair he would be nearly two heads tall her than the jet. Something he actually had over most Cybertronians he was tall. Megatron was aware of himself, posture, attitude, strength, in all ways. Of course he was engineered that way, his frame work was already large when he had come online and the modifications he had endured had only added to it. His optics were narrowed as he looked at Starscream, what disgusted him was he knew the Seeker had the intelligence to do what was needed, though he seemed to refused to use it. He leaned back in the chair almost prepared to listen to the excuse he knew would come. A quick glance from Starscream to his arm mounted cannon and back told the Seeker he needed to be careful of what he said. Megatron's silver armor reflected the black cannon giving him a dark very sinister look.

The Air Commander ignored everything that Megatron did, he had seen it before, in fact this scenario had been played out several times. Starscream knew what to expect right down to what Megatron was going to say. His wings like those of his make betrayed his emotional state. Currently the were swept back giving him a much narrower appearance, one thing he had learned fast, give his leader less of a target to aim at, now it was a natural reflex , they still flicked with anger and anticipation. All of his patience was used up standing outside the door. Starscream's optics narrowed as he waited just a little longer. Just as predicted the cannon came into view as Megatron began to speak.

"Care to explain yourself?" Megatron sat back and crossed his arms.

"I did exactly as you ordered Mighty Megatron." Starscream stood there attempting to look as if he were innocent.

Megatron's optics narrowed until the deep red burned viciously almost threatening to jump out and strangle his second in command. "I've seen the report," he picked up the data pad from the desk. "You did exactly as instructed, that is obvious."

"Then it is not my fault."

"It is, as you were leading the mission. Skywarp can follow instructions like these," He through the data pad at the Seeker, "You are the leader so you can make decisions."

Being used to dodging it was easy for Starscream to sidestep the data pad, "Make decisions? My choice would have corrected the issue before it was sent out." He could not help say it, the desire to speaks his mind was too great.

A whine was heard as the black cannon began to charge. "You were chosen because of your abilities, any fool can follow orders."

"Any fool can plan an attack and leave out details." Starscream spat back. He knew what was coming. It was always a stalemate as far as comments would go. Megatron did not have the patience to listen and Starscream refused to keep quiet.

"I will not stand for this, if you are not going to act like the commander I appointed you to then I will relinquish you of that power." Megatron growled, the power on his cannon inching up another increment as if attached to his temper.

"Remove me? I am the best there is!" His voice carried up in to the higher ranges of his capacity making it shrill, and screechy.

"You have failed. You brought nothing back. If you are the best there is then the Decepticon Empire is in shambles. I will not allow that to happen. I keep things running around here, and I expect those in the command structure to be able to do the same." Megatron's voice was low in warning.

"We've not won Cybertron with your great leadership." He knew that would be the one that broke the camel's back sure enough he could hear the firing mechanism engage but as fast as he was Starscream could not move quick enough to get out the way at such a short distance. The pressure and heat pushed up against his cockpit and forced him into the wall. The glass shattered, and components within began to melt as it burned into his chest. It pushed all the air from his filters, internal alarms began to sound within his audios, as damages bars scrolled across his vision. Starscream had it all planned out, next thing he knew he would be waking up in the medical bay being repaired but one or more of the Constructicons.

Watching his Air Commander's chassis slide down the wall into a heap of parts Megatron shook his head. The Seeker had so much potential but just could not bring himself to use it properly. He sat there looking at him for several long moments, he was done with the situation. Each time it was argue, fight, fire, like a repeating cycle. At first he thought that Starscream would learn, he liked the ambition and was willing to work for what he wanted, but then it got out of control. The sarcasm, the blatant disobeying, even in front of the other Decepticons was not tolerable. The smell of brunt wires and melted metal filled his office along with the smoke that carried the scent. It was obvious that the jet could not stay on the floor of his office, that much he knew, yet sitting there watching the slowly leaking fuel trickle down and begin to puddle was a sight he almost could not bring himself to part with. It seemed like Starscream was ever only silent in this state; that thought turned something on in Megatron. What if he could keep him in that state. Emergency stasis took over while one was too damaged to function properly, perhaps he would just repair some of the Seeker and leave the coding out that would allow him to wake up. Megatron shook his head at his own thoughts, as much as he would enjoy doing something like that Starscream had his talents and he was not finished using them just yet.

* * *

Arriving at work just ahead of schedule again Andrew took notice that there was more damage done to the south side of the building. It seemed that part of the roof had been torn away, and there were scorch marks on it. He was not to thrilled with it as his labs were located in that area. The events of the past few days weighed on him. It was hard not to think about it when stories about the Transforming Robots from another planet were plastered everywhere. He grabbed his lab coat from the back of his car and headed inside. As he walked past the security point he tired to imagine the building with cut a ways to see what and if there might be some damage to the inside. The best he could tell from his view point was it had been the area where Jimmy's lab was. But then Andrew could not see the back side either, and that is where his own lab was. He opened the door and went inside, as usual nothing seemed out of sorts, or different in any way. Down his own lab's corridor, and into his own rooms he looked around to see if anything had been changed. He was forced to do a double take as part of his roof was missing and his generator was gone. For an instant he was not sure what to do, no one acted as if anything were wrong, what was he supposed to do report theft? He sat in his chair and looked over his work, it would seem that all the information was intact. So if it was the generator they were after they got what they came for. What they were going to do with it he had no clue. Andrew logged into the company data base and looked to see if it were possible to order more of the high test material but it was no longer listed. He sighed hard, it was as if someone had washed his future down the drain. He got up and began to pace near where the generator had been.

"So now what do I do?" he said to himself. Of course he would be assigned to another project soon enough and he would have to clean out this area and make new room for it. But that was not the issue, he had something that could have possibly changed the world and how it used energy. He sighed hard, that though was based on the availability of the high test; which was now not even available to him.

The door opened permitting Martin Lanx in; he was the general project manager and Andrew's direct supervisor. "He looked at the area, without having to been told or read the report he knew what had happened, it had happened to him on a few occasions now. He would agree with Andrew on this, it 'blew chunks,' so to speak. "I know what you are thinking."

Andrew looked up, his face torn with mixed emotions, he wanted to be sarcastic, and really ask Martin did he really? But he knew he had, it was not a secret that things came up missing after such, he thought a moment to himself before he considered finishing the thought all the way through, attacks. Yes, that would be the right word, after all the way damage done what else would you label it? Rather than argue or get himself in any more trouble with what he had seen previously, he looked up from his gaze at the linoleum, "I am guessing I'll be given some other project to work on?"

"This is the first time that this has happened to you isn't it?" Martin knew it was, he knew all of what had gone missing since his time as floor manager.

Nodding Andrew looked at Martin; he looked about mid thirties, with a few grey hairs beginning to grow here and there out of near pitch black hair. He kept a nice clean mustache, and always wore a tie even though his job did not require it. "Yeah, I feel like some pulled my plug out."

"Right, you do all this work and finally start to get somewhere and bam, they pull the cloud out from under your feet. It's painful to watch your work screech to a grinding halt." Martin shook his head, it was five times that it had happened to him, and each time seemed much more harsh than the last. He supposed that was way when the position opened up, they asked him to take it. He was the most experienced in dealing with it. He did not however have the people skills to help others cope.

"How do you just go on? You put your life into your work and at a moment's notice its gone. How can you just forget about it?"

"Honesty, I don't. I have each of my projects in the back of my mind like a nagging dog whining at me to be finished. But there is nothing I can do about it. Nothing no one can do about it." That for the most part was true, the urge to finish was probably the hardest thing to deal with.

"I can't even finish if I tried, the high test isn't on the order sheet anymore."

Martin did not say anything about that, materials came and went on their sheet all the time; unless it was something that the other researchers had created there it was unlikely that they would ever see it again. "My first project that was lost," he used that word tentatively since they all knew it was not lost but taken. "I had everything backed up, something my college professor used to do. Anyway, when it came up missing, it didn't faze me, I went about recreating it, and rebuilding. When the last manager came up and asked about it, since he had a new assignment for me, I explained what I had done. Stanly just shook his head at me and said." Martin lowered his voice to a older tone to emulate his old boss. "Son, you probably shouldn't 'a done that." Martin smiled at himself. "Course I was a young kid like you back in those days."

Surprised Andrew actually felt somewhat better. "So you rebuilt it, what happened to it then?"

"Stanly came over and told me that if I kept it up I should expect to be fired, then waved his hand at me and said or worse." Martin mimicked the same hand motion he was given. "Now it took some fine tuning to get that thing back to there the first one had been. I had all the notes and what not, but as you know adjustments go slow on some projects. Two days after I had got it to just about where I had left off. Poof. It was gone again and this time Stanly was waiting for me."

A grimace came to Andrew's features, it was obvious that Martin did not get fired, but when the boss is waiting for you it is not a good sign. "Told you not to try to repeat it?" That was his best guess, probably the whole point of the story and why Martin had come to see him in the first place, of course other than the new assignment.

"Yup, told me if I attempted to recreated it again I'd be fired right there on the spot. Seems the higher ups didn't like it." The fact that he had still not finished it ate at him anyway, to the degree he had considered quitting this job and going to another company and proposing his research there.

"Higher ups." Andrew echoed. "How come we never see them down here on the floor checking out projects?"

"That's why they pay me." Martin smiled trying to get around the actual question. "Look, I'm just trying to give you some advice, you've been doing well here, one of our most promising young bucks, I'd hate to see you throw that all away."

"It's been thrown away," Andrew's hand flew out in the direction of the empty space where his generator had been.

"Try not to think about it," Handing Andrew the note book Martin apologized, "Here is the next thing you will be working on. Might want to read the fine print."

The younger man practically snatched it from his bosses hand, as he began to read it over, he noticed some things had to do with rays, and modifying them to disrupt electronic impulses. He had to admit, some of the oddest things took place within his company. He kept reading and found the part to which Martin had referred. He had to read it twice before it dawned on him what it really meant.

_For your service to the company we would like to add, $3.57 to your hourly rate, with a bonus of $15,453 for the compensation of your previous project. We give you our condolences as we know that our researchers put their hearts and souls into their works. Remember that we do this for the better of mankind, and each day can make an impact. Thank you._

Again he read it, it was like a pay off. The math was done easily in his head, the small increase to his pay put him up over the twenty-five dollar amount, not that he could argue with that, but the bonus? Really that was a pay of to forget that it ever happened. He sighed, how could he really say no other than handing it back to Martin and walking out. Andrew enjoyed what he did, and had a good time doing it, the money was great, and befits were all included, most people would kill for a job like his.

Noticing that his charge was finished reading Martin rested a hand on Andrew's shoulder. "I know it's just a pay off, and that it doesn't feel right, but if you can get past it, it is worth it."

"It doesn't feel right." Andrew agreed. "Does anyone ever get to finish anything around here?"

"Sure do. We hold several patents on many things, I have five myself." Martin said proudly.

That actually gave some relief, not everything always came up missing. Andrew wondered if he could live with that, a project here and there lost, but more seeing it through to the end. He himself had completed six projects but most of them were for the aid of others, this had been his first big solo one. He wondered if it had not been his first one if it would have made a difference, he shook his head in thought and disagreed with himself, he doubted it. It probably would have had the same impact. "Alright you want me to break this down then I guess?"

Martin shook his head, "If you want a hand in it you can, I urge you not to take a souvenir though. We've got a crew going to come in and dismantle the entire room." He pointed up at the ceiling, it's going to need some repairs anyway, so we're going to move you to a new lab for this.

"Show me." Thinking it would be best to just leave rather than be in his lab thinking about the possibilities that could have been he wanted to see what he would have at his disposal now. It seemed like more of a pay off or was even starting to slide into the area of bribe. He followed Martin out into the hall and reread the note, what that money he considered taking a vacation. Andrew nearly walked right into Martin when he stopped to key the door to the lab.

"This is it, I have to admit I have a bit of an attachment to it, but it's all new." Martin opened the door and moved a side so Andrew could go in.

Looking around there was one computer station, and two tables with various clamps, and tools, as well as drawers. It was much larger than his other one, and the small windows near the ceiling were glazed over to look foggy unlike the lower clear ones he had before. He supposed he would need the extra room if he was going to be dealing with rays of a sort. He flipped through the notes and saw a print of the 'ideal' look for this ray and then looked around at the room again. "Looks like the right place to get started."

"Good, here." Martin handed him a key card. "Go down to personnel they will be expecting you, they will integrate this with your idea imprint so you won't have code the door each time just use the magnetic strip to unlock the door."

"Oh high tech." Andrew chuckled. He took the card and looked it over. "When can I start?"

"Tomorrow, go ahead and look over the notes, and see if there is anything you will need to order and we'll get going on it tomorrow."

* * *

Blaster sat in the chair in front of Teletran-one. He was on sensor duty. Unlike Hound, Blaster was better equipped for monitoring, rather than searching. His alternate mode was that of a boom box, something that the human youths would love to have sitting out on the side walk turned up all the way to ten as they danced around to the sounds it pumped out. Blaster, actually liked that idea, he loved music, anything that had to do with radio waves actually. It was his forte, which ironically made him the best one to combat Soundwave, the only problem was, he was much younger than his rival. It did not bother Blaster though, it was just at a disadvantage. When he was called to duties on Earth several changes were made to his structure, one naturally being the alternate mode, the other were four small cassettes that were given to him to help counter Soundwave's own Cassetticons. Two that transformed into smaller robots much like Rumble and Frenzy, their names Rewind and Eject. A lion slightly larger than Ravage's panther mode, Steeljaw. The last one something different, as at the time the Autobots had not managed to integrate flight capabilities into something so small, it was decided that something with some speed might be of help, thus Ramhorn, a Rhinoceros. Blaster was confident in each of the Cassetbots that resided within his chest cavity, when called upon they would all do as needed. While within him they lay dormant, their systems connected to his for a link to the outside world. Blaster scanned all the frequencies he was capable of, which was a lot more than humans had the power to communicate on. This time of night and the fact that the Decepticons seemed to like to do things at dawn there was not much going on. He bopped his head in time with the music that played though one of his own audio channels as he kept up his scan.

By the time that Spike and Nicole had made it to the entrance of the volcano, it was dark and the Autobots had been called off to deal with a Decepticon assault. Consequently Nicole ended up spending another night in Spike's room, Spike had Bumblebee take him home for a night. She had woke up and Teletran had told her it was three thirty am. She got up and wrapped one of Spike's coats around her then stepped out into the hall. There was a bit of light, she figured that it was tuned to that of the sunlight outside, so at the moment it was simulating moonlight. She followed the walk way down several corridors and then into the room where Blaster sat. She stared at him watching for a bit, the fact that he was so much bigger than she was did not bother her any more she had managed to get over that with the help of Bumblebee though she had fainted again when he had transformed. It was still hard to believe that there were such things that existed. She cracked a bit of a smile as she watched Blaster bop to an unheard beat.

She took a step closer, "Umm excuse me?"

Blaster stopped all movement and honed in on the sound instantly. "I thought you'd be outta here little lady."

"Everyone went out so I had no way to get home, and I was tired." She paused a moment, " and I kind of wanted to stay.

"How'd you get here anyway?" He placed his hand down for her to sit on.

Hesitantly she sat on his hand and he lifted her. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming as he sat his hand down on his thigh. "Do you do this to all the people that visit?"

"Naa, I don't get visitors usually everyone is recharging or sleepin' or whatever it is they do at this time." Blaster put his hand back on the console to rifle through channels once more.

"What are you doing?"She asked.

"Scanning the air waves man, if the Decepticons decide they wanna make a move I'll have to alert everyone." He adjusted the sensors a few more times, and began to bop to the sound in his head once more, even singing along with it.

"Can I hear it?"

"Umm sure," Blaster adjusted the volume so that it wouldn't carry all through the base, then unplugged his systems from Teletran and slowly turned the music he was listening too. A young street band that played in the local club.

Nicole smiled, she had heard this band play live and they were good. The two of them sat then and listened for some time before she stretched and yawned. "I guess I'll go back to bed for a bit longer." She stood up in his lap.

"Sure thing little lady." He let her sit on his hand and lowered her down to the ground again.

"Which," She looked around, and had no idea how to get back to Spike's room. "How do I find it?"

Blaster sat back and pressed the button on his chest that allowed the door to open. "Steeljaw common out dude."

A bright yellow tape came out unfolding its self into a robotic lion. It turned and looked up at Blaster.

"Show the nice lady where Spike's room is." Blaster nodded, he was unable to do so as it would mean leaving a station while on duty.

Slowly padding to Nicole the lion sniffed at her just like a cat then growled softly almost a purr, he came close enough she put her hand out and he put his head under it. She slowly stroked his head back to one ear, then he pulled away and began to walk down a hall.

"Go on follow him he'll take you back." He jerked his head at the hall where Steeljaw was stopped looking back in their direction.

"Thanks Blaster." She started after the cat and looked around trying to get her bearings in the base where each wall seemed to look the same, well at least to her it did. Each time she lagged a little bit Steeljaw would make that growl purr again to remind her she needed to go. It was not as if they were hiding anything from her but she had not adapted to them well at first and it was for her own safety.

Prowl noticed that Blaster was playing his music audibly not internally as he usually did when he relieved him from duty. He was not as tall as Blaster, and the most distinguishable thing about him was the mock up look of a police vehicle but when Blaster turned around to relay the nightly reports he could see the agitation in Prowl's vehicle mode car doors that looks somewhat like wings. He stood there his hands on his hips and a stern look on his face as if to scold a child.

The music suddenly stopped when Blaster realize what it was. He was so used to hearing it so constantly he did not realize that he was playing it aloud. "Sorry Prowler."

Prowl's blew optics blazed, "What did I tell you about calling me that?"

"Sorry," Blaster got up out of the chair with a bit of a chuckle, "you know everyone calls you that?"

The ridge of Prowl's right optic rose, "Like who?" he said in a rather demanding tone.

"Don't worry about it man, it's all in love." Blaster handed him his report. "Night was quiet."

"Not from what I saw." Prowl answered back fast as he took the seat.

"Sorry about that, the little lady came out and was curious about what I was listening to." No sense lying about it, Prowl always seemed to know when someone was lying.

"So the human female was up and about the base on her own?" He said suspiciously.

Blaster looked down at Prowl curiously. "Yeah, I didn't know we were keeping her locked up."

"We're not," Prowl exhaled in exasperation. "It is for her safety she should have an escort. You don't remember how long it took Spike to learn the layout of the base. Let's just say it wasn't pretty and he was even missing for half a day."

"Well I sent Steeljaw to show her the way back since she asked. He hasn't come back." Blaster opened his chest panel and used his system to connect to Steeljaw's beacon. "He's in Spike's quarters. He's dormant."

Nodding Prowl set about his duty, "Might want to check on them before you go for your recharge."

"Will do." Turning on his heal Blaster headed right for Spike's quarters.

* * *

Bright lights filled the medical bay of the Nemesis as purple and green Robots walked in and around the tables that were supposed to be for injured Decepticons. Currently one table was a project of neon colored liquids, smoking and simmering, while a second one had a pile of a number of anomalous parts from what looked to be a junk yard. The one in the back of the room actually contained one Decepticon. The Armies best surgical engineer and his team had been brought to Earth via the Spacebridge some time back now, Hook worked slowly and meticulously over the cockpit and chest that belonged to the damaged Starscream. Hook had been given orders to repair the Air Commander but not bring him online. The first thing he did was take Starscream's restart systems offline, simple. Then he began the painful examination of what all the damage that was done, cutting way useless pieces. It was all cataloged on the data pad. Several hours passed as the clean up went along. Hook was only one part of a team of Constructicons, who were not brought for their medical expertise, but for their abilities to construct things as well as the formation of the giant robot Devastator. Devastator was one robot that was created but all six of the Constructicons combining.

Walking though the bay as he often did, Scrapper stopped and looked. He was there this time to update Megatron on Starscream's progress. He read over the data pad and made a mental note of how things were, and without a word to Hook turned and headed right for Megatron's office. Just before he could take the step to trigger the door's automatic detector another one of his team mates spoke up.

"Megatron is really going to keep him down here?" Long Haul looked over at where Hook worked.

"It would appear that way, though why after all this time I do not know." Scrapper answered.

"If it were me I would have killed him long ago." Bonecrusher added. Each one of the Constructicons had their own specialty, his was demolitions. Long Haul's though he disliked it was weights and measures, which made him perfect for transportation.

"Do we have to keep him here?" Long Haul questioned next.

"I most certainly hope not." Hook spoke up. As a crew they thought of themselves and rather an elite part of the army, no needed anyone else on the outside to aid them in their duties.

"If Megatron so orders it we will." Scrapper answered and exited the room. It was rather obvious that Megatron had no intent of letting Starscream go, but he could just as easily be placed in his own quarters for his stasis lock punishment. How he had got elected to lead this time Scrapper still was not sure Long Haul said it was because he was the most tolerant and Hook would have been killed by the Decepticon leader if he had been chosen and then they all would have suffered without the ability to form Devastator. He shrugged it off as he came up to the control room. He rounded the corner and did as Starscream did pressed the signal to tell Megatron he had arrived. This time though unlike with the Air Commander a voice was heard from the inside one simple word as the door unlocked.

"Come."


	5. Chapter 4 Accidents Happen

Chapter 4. Accidents Happen.

Finally when Nicole woke, it seemed as if the entire day had already passed. In truth it had. He had stated up with another tour of the base with Steeljaw and did not arrive back to bed at dawn. She sat up and looked around the lights had come on to simulate day just as she suspected. With a yawn in and a stretch she looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. "Teletran-one?"

"State your inquiry." The Voice seemed brighter today than it had last.

"A .." She waved her hand around wondering what she should call it so it would understand. "Cleaning station?" What she wanted was a shower.

Lights came on and a panel opened that lead to another smaller room, she walked over and had a look, inside was a standard bathroom, toilet, shower with a full sized bathtub even. Quickly she entered and went about her business.

Steeljaw's blue optics flittered on and his head popped up as the sound of the shower came on. He turned his head this way and that, then decided he figured out what it was and put his head back down on his forepaws.

Blaster had done as Prowl had asked and checked on his charge and Nicole, when he had found her sleeping he let it go and told Steel jaw to stay and keep his optics on her. Not wanting to bother her from sleeping he decided the easiest way would be block the exit with his body and go back to his own recharge. His armor's senses would have alerted him if she had tried to crawl over him to exit. For now she was not doing anything, if and when she was ready to go out he would be her tagalong.

Reaching out Nicole brought the towel in and dried, then reached for her clothes. At this rate she would have to go home just to have some clean ones. She noticed that the shirt she had grabbed did not smell like she had expected. It smelled something like linen. She held it out, it looked like hers. Not giving it a second thought she dawned her clothes and came out. Steeljaw's head jerked up and he greeted her again with the soft growl purr that had the night before.

"You don't talk do you."

The lion shook his head negatively he could not forum the words properly but he had his ways of communication, and after all when he was connected to Blaster, the larger robot could easily read his thoughts.

"Well at least I can ask you some questions then." She thought about what it was she might say, and could not think of a single thing to ask that would allow him to give a yes or no answer. One finally came to mind. "Can we go?"

Steeljaw got up and moved out of the way with nod of his head. She rounded his body, and headed out the door, he tuned and followed.

"If I ask to go can you lead me to it?" Nicole still did not know her way around.

Again Steeljaw nodded, he did not have any instructions to keep her out of anything, just keep track of her and make sure she did not get lost.

"Alright, can we go to see Perceptor? I kind of want to apologize, I didn't mean to scream in his face."

Padding down the correct hall Steeljaw growled his answer. He gazed back every once in a while making sure that she was following. She tried again to keep track of walls and corridors. The orange walls seemed all the same, no particular markings on them that made one distinguishable than the others. She could understand how it was possible that they found their way around the base. She caught up a little more to Steeljaw. "How do you know your way around?"

The lion sad down on his haunches and flared his optics displaying the internal map he had within.

That made it much more clear to Nicole, the Autobots had internal maps. "That's pretty cool."

The display went off and Steeljaw got up and began to walk again. It was not long before they had reached the lab where Preceptor was. He happened to be in his smaller microscopic mode studying a piece of the local fauna. Steeljaw growled, and Perceptor shifted forms back into his robot mode.

"Something I can help you with?"

"I just wanted to apologize for the other night," Nicole looked at the orange colored metal beneath her feet. "I guess I just wasn't ready to believe yet."

"You are not the first to experience such issues. However it is fascinating that it seems to be limited to females. I should one day like to study it." Preceptor began looking at some data that compared human males to human females.

"You want to conduct tests on us?" Nicole wondered for a moment if her friends had been right all along.

Perceptor only smiled. "In the name of science, after all it would be behavioral, not physical, .." he paused for a moment and thought about that statement. "Perhaps some scans of the physical but no harm would be done."

"No harm." There was a long hard awkward silence until Nicole spoke again. "Like a brain scan?"

"I do not have that required equipment, though that is exactly what I was considering." Perceptor never tore his optics off the findings he was studying.

Content that he was not going to pull her apart Nicole thought a little longer. "I could come back."

That got Preceptor's attention, he turned around and looked down at her. "Back from where? You are here now."

"I can't stay here like this, I need clean clothes." She looked down on herself, and though she did not think she smelled bad she had not liked putting her clothes back on after getting clean in the shower.

"I see." Perceptor was another one that had come with Blaster, he was not around when Spike and Sparkplug were integrated into the daily routines. "I will speak with Optimus Prime concerning it."

The chief medical officer came through the door just as Perceptor went back to his studies. "Perceptor, have you finished that augmentation to the communications rely?"

With a nod Perceptor walked over to a table and got a small cylinder. "I completed it several hours ago."

Ratchet smiled, "Thank you." He took the cylinder, and walked past where Nicole and Steeljaw had been standing, giving them a long hard look, then kept on his way.

"He doesn't look like he likes me." Nicole said to Steeljaw.

"Ratchet, does not like anyone who breaks things. Though he is not the only capable of repairs he tends to act as if he is." Perceptor said.

"I haven't broke anything yet." Nicole looked at the door where Ratchet had left. "Kind of rude to assume I would isn't it?"

"Spike is always getting into something. I believe Ratchet calls it human nature." With that Perceptor headed to the back of the room and began to work on something.

Well at least she got to apologize that is what she came for. She looked around for a moment it was a very odd feeling, granted that she was only five feet tall, maybe five-one on a good day and thick soled shoes, everything seemed so out of proportion. Being a human most things were well human sized. Sometimes she felt short, but this made her feel downright insignificant. She tried to picture herself from their point of view. Did they think of her as an insect? The thought was discouraging and she felt she understood why Ratchet gave her that look. Maybe she really did not want to stay, she glanced over at Perceptor again, he seemed nice enough; Bumblebee was a lot of fun. She looked at Steeljaw.

"They really aren't used to having humans around are they?"

The gold lion shook his head negatively.

She started walking toward the door, today it seemed like one on was really in a hurry to kick her out. "Steeljaw, is Bumblebee back?"

There was a silence as he made communications with Teletran's sensors and then he nodded his head.

"Good, I need a ride home."

Megatron did not turn to look around at Scrapper, even after he had reported everything. "And his overall status?"

"All systems are functional accept the restart booster. You ordered those kept offline." Scrapper hated when the Leader refused to turn around, that usually meant he was planning something.

"Excellent, is there a time of completion of his repairs?" Megatron turned from his view of the dark ocean to finally face Scrapper.

Trying his best not to show his leader the dissatisfaction he had with Hook's refusal to speed up the process. Scrapper cooled his systems and began. "Hook is tending to him. Expected time of completion is 1645."

"Another full solar cycle?" Megatron's optics flared at the thought. He had no plans to activate the Air Commander, but he had wanted him ready for his plan before that.

"Yes, Mighty Megatron." Scrapper had already devised a way to implement some more speed to Hook's slow work. He himself would join him, while Hook would not allow him to work directly on Starscream he could however be doing the repairs to the systems that had been removed while Hook worked on the wounds themselves. It was always best to tell Megatron the longest time frame simply because he knew that Megatron would demand something shorter. He had considered extending that time, but it would be obvious in the reports that it was a lie. He much preferred to keep in on piece, not only would the down time be painful, but he would have to listen to Hook grumble and berate him about being injured.

Keeping track of your minions was always a good thing to do as a Leader, and Megatron is no exception. He knew well that if pushed Scrapper would take on some of the work and urge Hook to move faster. He gazed over the report again, and thought for an instant. He could let them have their time, as he had no plans to activate Starscream. But to allow them such a convenience would make them think they would be allowed to do so more often. That was unacceptable. "I sense that you are aware that your time frame is unacceptable."

"Yes." Scrapper answered. Of course it was, it always was, there was no surprise in that. "I have already planned on aiding Hook to decrease the time."

"See that you do that. I will expect another full report in twelve Earth hours." Megatron pressed a button on his desk's control panel and the door behind Scrapper opened. As most Decepticons knew that meant dismissal.

Without another word Scrapper turned and left the office. His Cerebro processor computed at peak speed, as he calculated and recalculated what he could do to move the repair process along. Twelve hours was not enough. Adding Mixmaster to the mess that was Starscream was a thought, but the chemists instability, was also a setback. He would have to tell Mixmaster exactly what he needed and how much and let him work on his own. That would aid in cutting down time when they finally replaced the cockpit, and the hydraulics that worked the transformation. Still even then that would not be enough to fit it in the hour time fame set. His pace of walk sped up, as he rounded one corridor and headed down another, and right into the medical bay. Each Constructicon looked up with curiosity as the door closed and Scrapper came to a halt.

"How much time?" Bonecrusher asked.

"Twelve hours."

"Not near enough." Hook protested.

"It is never near enough for you." Long Haul spat.

"He's going to be kept offline anyway why bother yourself with making it perfect?" Bonecrusher wondered.

"Never mind that," Scrapper interrupted, "Where is Mixmaster?"

"He's been locked in that lab there," Long Haul pointed over to a closed door. "For hours."

Scrapper's optics widened. "No one bothered to check on him?"

Bonecrusher crossed his arms over his chest. "We're not his creators."

Both Long Haul and Bonecrusher chuckled amusedly.

"He is one sixth of this team, and you both know what will happen if one of us is unable to form Devastator." Scrapper did not yell, but his tone of voice was low and almost dangerous. He walked to the door that did not open as he reached the automatic sensor. Great, he had locked himself in. Fortunately Scrapper has all the medical bay's override codes. He keyed the pad and the door opened with a cloud of smoke. Scrapper waved his hand to attempt to clear his view, the smell was acidic, though his sensors told him it was not a danger to his systems. "Mixmaster!" He stepped in and saw the table that had obvious marks of explosion. Rounding it, he nearly kicked Mixmaster as he examined what was left the table. He knelt down and checked on his team mate who was offline. "Long Haul, Bonecrusher get in here."

The two team mates come in and carry their crew mate out into the open area. "What did he do?" Long Haul asked.

Scrapper came out holding onto a small silver looking box with wires sticking out as well as melted down. "I think it was this." He held it out for his team mates to look at. It was a small human built generator that seemed to have been operating when the explosion happened. The generator itself had not been damaged, but the converter that Mixmaster had attached to it was obliterated.

The Chemist's systems were used to sever explosions, he tended to do it rather often, this one he had not expect to come as must human devices were in no way shape or form powerful enough to do any large amount damage, save for the nuclear powered weapons ones. "You two see that he gets back online, find Scavenger I want him to identify this, thing."

Sometimes tomorrow ca not come soon enough, and when it does it hurts when it is postponed until the next tomorrow. Andrew was told this as he came into work the next morning. Martin was waiting for him outside saying there was a glitch in the keypad that allowed entry to his new lab. For a moment he stood there and stared at Martin as if he could not contemplate the words he was just told. Then with a shrug he headed back to his car and home. There was nothing he could do about it. Sit and wait until the glitch was fixed, his other lab in the process of being dismantled was now off-limits. Stopping to pick up a daily paper he got out of his car and looked around. He had a feeling like he had been living with tunnel vision as he noticed that there had been a lot of growth to the town. Several more fast food places had sprung up, as well as what looked like to be a dance club. He got back in and decided to try out one of the new fast food places, got a burger and fries and drove home.

Taking a TV tray out and sitting on the couch that he hardly used Andrew sat and turned the TV on, and began to flip channels. Curiosity had got the best of him, he wanted to find out himself what Transformers really were. Prime time for news at noon had not hit yet, and all he could find was soap operas, he turned it on the constant news station and left it there so he could eat. Nothing was said for over half an hour as he managed to eat the food. After a washing a handing he picked up the paper and searched through it. Nothing in it either, not even coverage of what he knew happened. He looked at the news again and wondered if it were possible that they had been getting paid off to not report. If his company was doing it why not news people right? It was revolting just how corrupted humanity had become. His values were not like that. He began to question himself. He was after all working for a company that had some sort of ties to Decepticons. Did that mean he too was corrupted for taking the money? He did not have much choice at the moment as he needed his job to pay off his house. He got up and went to his home computer, another thing which he had not used in some time. If there was information on these aliens it would be plastered all over the internet. In the search bar he typed 'Transformer', naturally the first thing that came up was Optimus Prime. At least he was getting somewhere with that. He clicked the link and began to 'research' these aliens.

By the time he was scheduled to be off work he had found out a whole load of information regarding Autobots, and their abilities, as well as their home, and what they fought for. Lots of information about what most termed, the good guys. There was very little though on the Decepticons, some pictures names. They had the leader down, a silver and black one named Megatron, the blue cassette deck was rather easy to pick out as well being Soundwave, but the jets some articles had the black one as Thundercracker, and the red and blue one as Skywarp; while others had them in another completely different order. He was not really sure what to believe. The pictures were definitely the same jets he had seen the other day. Back to the search bar. Andrew typed in 'Starscream' that had been one of the names of the jets he figured he might be able to distinguish which one which if he worked long enough.

The Sun waned outside giving everything and orange reddish tint that gleamed right into Andrew's room and glared furiously on his monitor. For a moment he actually glared back at the crack in his blinds that had allowed the Sun in, it was only when he got up stretched, and attempted to walk that he noticed he had been sitting there for near fifteen hours. His legs felt like jello, as he twisted the stick that changed the angle of the blinds. He glanced at his watch, then around the room again. He did not feel he was any closer to an answer than he did when he had sat down. He had learned a lot, but it was not enough to fill that curiosity that was consuming him. One thing he did notice, no one swept the parking lot when they had been told to leave. He thought that maybe next time he might just stay in his car, watch what happens. He finished fooling around with the blinds and was about to sit down when his stomach decided that he needed more food. Going out the kitchen he thought about it some more. There was a cult of people that studied the aliens, tried to get in close with them so learn more about them, but the leader Optimus Prime kept them out since he had decided that humans were not ready for that type of technology yet. As he prepared his meal he thought for an instant that he might go to these cultists and describe what he had seen, but then thought it would not matter as they were all in to the Autobots and the ones he had seen were Decepticons. Something felt like he was missing it, like there was a door he had yet to open. He threw together some tuna sandwiches and took them back to his computer.

Twelve hours ticked by, Scrapper's internal chronometer counted each one as it passed too. Still it seemed as if it were going much too fast for his liking. Hook was only about three quarters of the way completed with Starscream even with his help. Mixmaster has not regained his online status, despite the fact that he had several once over's and nothing was showing as wrong. Scavenger had looked at the thing that had causes it and only two things to say combined human technology, and high grade Energon. None of it made sense, and he was supposed to be in Megatron's office again in less that fifteen Earth minutes. Megatron would not be happy to find that their technology was in the hands of filthy humans. He looked at the generator, curiously. Apparently Mixmaster had underestimated just how good humans could tune things if they had the right tools. Scrapper hooked up the generator, and turned it on. He could see how their compound was woven through out it, and the charge that it produced. He turned it off again, the output was forty five times that of the energy it took to run it. It was not really a generator at all, but an energy magnification device of a sort. On Cybertron he had not thought it was possible, but here on Earth, they had sever different compounds and elements that were not available on Cybertron. What Scrapper wanted was to tear it apart piece by piece and map it out so that he himself could draw up new prints and make one much better than any human could. If Megatron would permit that or not he did not know. However this little discovery may keep the war lord from aiming his black cannon at him for at least one more time. He grabbed the amplifier and headed to Megatron's office.

At once the door opened and it looked as he had left it, only the two occupants that had been at the consoles had been replaced. Whatever Soundwave had been engaged in must have been absorbing as the Communications office still sat at the back of the room. He stepped up to Megatron's door and it slid open immediately, giving away the hint that it had been unlocked. Stepping inside, Scrapper stood rather uncomfortably. His news was not good, though progress did shorten the time frame.

"Report."

"Hook has three fourths of the work complete, even with my help." Scrapper watched Megatron's movements carefully.

"Unacceptable." The tone of voice that Megatron used was not the same as he had used on Starscream. This was a more flat tone that had been used to relay nothing more than what was said.

"Yes Mighty Megatron, I did help, but there was a minor setback." Scrapper turned the amplifier over in his hand, then stopped suddenly as Megatron's optics darted at the moment.

"What is that?" For the moment he was still calm, and rather composed. He did not like when he was told there were setbacks.

"This was part of the issue." He held it up in optic view. "Mixmaster got it out of what was in Starscream's smashed cockpit."

Megatron watched carefully as Scrapper sat it on his desk. "Just what does this thing do?"

"It is an energy amplifier." Rather than start explaining Scrapper waited for the next question to come.

"Where did he get it?"

That was the one that Scrapper preferred not to answer but he was obligated now. "Mighty Megatron I have had Scavenger examine it thoroughly he came to the conclusion that it was made by humans using some of our technology."

"Humans, Starscream got this from humans that have access to our kinds of technology?" If he had not already had the Seeker in the medical bay he would have taken this time to put him here now. "The humans are pathetic spineless creatures that fight amongst themselves. They are not worthy of our technology."

"Judging by how it was used it was given freely to them to research." Scrapper looked at the small device.

"Which means he has been dealing with these humans for some time." Megatron added. He turned to the pad on this desk and opened a link. "Soundwave my office." There was no reply made nor was their one expected; you came when you were called or suffer the wrath when found. Soundwave kept Megatron informed of his projects often so the Leader also knew that he had been in the command room when he had been summoned.

The door opened and Soundwave had stepped through, he stood silently.

"Do you know anything about this." It was a loaded question, and Megatron knew it. Soundwave knew whatever he wanted to know, which was normally everything. But he wanted details.

Nodding Soundwave's short answers went to work. "Energy amplifier: Created by humans."

"That much I know, what about how long Starscream has been dealing with the wrenched humans?"

"Extra curricular activities abundant: Time five stellar cycles."

Scrapper watched the exchange with interest. Soundwave and Megatron had been known to have spent many hundreds of thousands of years as leader and loyal follower. Still their interactions were the same here as they would be in front of the entire Decepticon Empire.

"How long have you been aware of this Soundwave?" Megatron's tone of voice took on a rather dark sinister tone to it.

Without hesitation Soundwave answered. "Four hours, five minutes."

Megatron smirked. It was probably Skywarp that had been 'thinking' too loud, Soundwave picked up on things like that with ease. "The human that created this," He pointed first then picked up the amplifier. "I want him. Scrapper, inform me when your task has been finished." He pressed the button on the panel and his office door opened.

Reaching out Scrapper was going to take the amplifier back but Megatron made no move to hand it to him. "I would like to study its properties."

The Decepticon Leader sat it on the end of his desk. "You can compare notes with this human when he arrives then." It was meant as an insult, since they regarded humans as insects; it was not lost on Scrapper either.

There was hesitation on Scrapper's part before he snatched the amplifier and left the office. His goal was clear now, he would have to improve upon the device to simply prove he was better than some human.

Soundwave had not moved an inch. His part of this meeting was not over, and he had not had to use telepathy to tell him that.

"Do you know where to locate this human?" Megatron got up and walked to the wall with the port light in it looking out into the ocean.

"Skywarp and Thundercracker know the coordinates."

"What is it?" Knowing that his Air Commander had dealt with these humans for sometime Megatron was interested to see what exactly was going on.

"Research facility." Soundwave's answers were not just short, but always to the point. When dealing with communications as often as he did, it was a must to keep things moving.

"Weapons?" Megatron turned his head and looked back at Soundwave over his shoulder.

"Variable, not an arms dealer." Skywarp had not been the one had dealt with the humans, but none of the humans had ever tried to shoot anything at him. Soundwave took that as unlikely that they were creating weapons there, or the dealings with the humans were not forced.

"How long until you locate this human?" Megatron turned and gazed out the window again.

"Human will attempt to go to the facility for work tomorrow morning." Soundwave answered.

"Good, take Skywarp, and see that you are there to greet him. Then bring him here."

"You know Bumblebee, it isn't fair." Nicole got out of her ride and watched as he transformed on her street.

"Uh what isn't fair?" The now yellow robot stood looking down at her curiously.

"They war you guys have going on with the Decepticons." She sat on the curb obviously not really ready to go home yet.

"If we don't fight them, they will turn this planet into a wasteland and take everything there is." He answered as honestly as he thought he could.

"Exactly why do they need it?"

"I don't know the answer to that Nikki." Bumblebee had picked that nick name up for her from Jazz and she seemed to like it.

"You know humans are the same way." She sat back leaning on her hands then elbows looking up at the stars.

Bumblebee copied her slowly adjusting himself as to not make a huge amount of noise in the small town's street. "What do you mean?"

"You know presidents, world leaders, movie stars. All of them. Anyone that has any influence, or money always wants more no matter how much they have. Just never satisfied I guess." It had taken her, the entire visit to come down to this moment and have the complete realization of humanity dawn on her.

"You can't help that." Bumblebee said trying to cheer her up some.

"Actually I can. You know one voice can make a difference in the right light." Nicole sat up and looked directly at her new friend. "I want to go back."

"We just got here." He said sitting up confused.

"I know, and I need some stuff from inside, but what if I let Perceptor do those tests on me? Maybe he will find something that might help? It wouldn't hurt to try would it?"

Not knowing the answer to that Bumblebee opened the panel on his wrist and contacted Optimus Prime. A few moments later he had his reply. "I think because Carly is off at college that Optimus Prime thinks is a good idea."

Nicole nearly jumped to her feet. "I can go back with you?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah, but won't people worry about you, ask where you've been? Like your friends that sent you there in the first place?" Bumblebee looked around, it was not that late but the street was fairly deserted.

"I've got my cell phone." She took it out of her pocket and started heading up the path way to the house, "I've got to change clothes and pick up a few things, I'll only be a minute." She called a few of her friends and made up a lie that nothing happened, and she was going out of town for a few days. One was going to even come check in on her things now and then. Inside, she sent a few emails out, and a note on one of those community sites, then ran off to grab a backpack. She had no idea how long she would really be gone, but on the plus side, she could always get a ride back to take care of whatever she needed. Once her pack was getting full she looked around and made sure she had a toothbrush and paste then stuffed them in the side pocket with her hair brush. She opened the door and then locked it as she headed back down the cement path. There was a moment where she had thought that Bumblebee had left her since she did not see the robot standing around. She smile to herself though as she neared the little yellow bug. "I think I got everything, you hiding?"

"Some humans drove past in a car, rather than have them faint or something worse it was easier to just transform." He answered through the speakers on his dash.

"It would be a little awkward to run right into one of you out of nowhere wouldn't it?" She got in and tossed her pack in the backseat, then apologized. "That didn't hurt did it? I mean I never thought to think that tossing my stuff in."

"Don't worry about it, Spike did the same thing, I'm used to it." Bumblebee started his engine, and turned himself around, back in the direction of the Autobot base.

7NaNoWriMo


	6. Chapter 5 Ambition

Chapter 5. Ambition.

There was an ache in his back as he sat up, his senses not quite ready to be awake when he realized he had fallen asleep at his computer he lost his balance and tumbled onto the hard wood floor. Andrew laid there for a bit, he could not remember when it was he fell asleep but obviously he had not made it to bed. He sat up and looked at his watch. "Damn." He had one hour before he was supposed to be at work. Hell with the shower, and luckily he was still pretty much dressed from yesterday well add wrinkles this time. Looks like breakfast was a no go as well. He grabbed the rest of his things and headed out the door.

The car started without the whine was used to, Andrew smiled, at least something was right this morning. He backed out and proceeded to work. Naturally he hit traffic, his teeth ground for a moment as he watched everything come to a halt for about ten minutes. Here he had run out the house thinking that he would have an extra minute to grab something to eat on the way, but this would cut that out for sure. Finally something broke, and the traffic finally started to let up, he weaved a few times to get a head of a granny looking lady so he could get back up to speed. Once he finally got to the lot he parked and only had five minutes left.

On the plus side, Martin was not waiting for him at the door to turn him away, but things seemed to be much more quiet than usual. He got a look or two, while he walked down the corridor, his badge being his time clock keeper clocking him in as he had enter the building. So there was no real reason to run to the lab, yet he had wanted to get things started as soon as possible. His corridor was completely empty. Not even Martin was there to give him a run down on what was able. He had to admit that it had a very ominous feeling. Whatever it was it could wait, after all they were all still here, they had not been all run off for no odd reason. He slid his card over the magnetic reader and the door clicked. He twisted the handle and went in. All seemed as it was when Martin had shown it to him the first time other than the computer having been turn on already.

There was already some work done and his personal file was on display. He was curious as to why that was up since not even he had access to those types of files. They were for the bosses, and Martin's eyes only. He read over the list and was actually pleased with what he saw. All the comments and marks were positive it was apparent they had liked his work. Seems he was slated as next in line for a position like Martin's floor project manager. It even went as far as to say that in one of the comments; he reread it again and smiled to himself. He had made an impression in a year, some cannot manage to do that in a life time. Why it was on there he had no idea. He got up and headed back to the door, his mind rather satisfied with himself decided that he should find Martin and figure out what was going on. He grabbed the handle on the door, but it was locked. On this side there was no way to swipe his ID to unlock it like there was on the outside. Not thinking that it was a big deal since Martin had told him the door had been glitches that it was probably what he had been talking about. He went back to the computer and minimized the window, and then logged on to the company's own messenger system. It would appear that Martin had called out today. Great, he scrolled down the bar a little more and found Jimmy.

Hey Jimmy?

Yeah? What's up?

Locked in the new lab and Martin isn't here. Help?

No access. I'll see if I can find another floor manager.

Thanks.

Jimmy sat at his desk for another five minutes before going out to seek some help. With Martin no there he was not sure if there was anyone that would have the code to get in.

There was no time like the present. Andrew sat down and took a look at what they had wanted him to focus on. Very few of the researchers bothered with weapons, and even then it was not a complete weapon, they dealt with parts not whole. He looked at the summery paragraph and view of the item. It was not a weapon but a disruptor of a sort.

Of course Andrew did not know what was actually going on. The display on his computer was no set up by Martin; Martin had been held at home with a car that refused to turn on its on board computer code scrambled for the moment; Rumble had seen to that. Skywarp had explained to Soundwave that Starscream had given the humans one of their frequencies so he could tell them when he was arriving; to keep the other humans from knowing what was going on. Soundwave took that into consideration when he and Skywarp headed off to the facility. He had not sent the communications that they were going to arrive, naturally Skywarp was recognized. And instantly they started speaking with him. Soundwave listened as they spieled their reports and progress and the fact that he had come early without warning. Soundwave had told Skywarp that he would coax him what to say through internal communications which he did, and the humans were content with that. They did notice that Soundwave was different than the three seekers that had been visiting them for all this time. Even questioned it. When Skywarp told them that it matter not they got quiet real quick as if having had been punished before for it. Soundwave liked that, he could get them to bend to his wishes better that way. Skywarp asked about the generator and which one of the many humans had been the one to create it, when they had given them Andrew's name Soundwave set about locating him with ease. Now Soundwave lay hidden in his cassette deck mode within the drawer in the computer desk. As soon as Andrew opened it things would change, and Soundwave would finish his mission.

Andrew paced by the door, twenty minutes had passed and still nothing. He sat down at the computer again and looked at the conversation with Jimmy. Nothing else had been said. He could not imagine what was taking so long, was it really that hard to find someone with a magnetic override? Well time to explore the lab, he checked the desk over for its computer connections as well as the computer itself this one had a tablet, and was prepared for drafting, Andrew thought that was nice. He opened the drawer and found the dark blue micro cassette recorder and placed it on the center of the desk. He pressed play for a moment and what seemed like Martin's voice came out. "If you want out of the lab you have to follow simple instructions." He stopped the tape and looked into the drawer again, there was a card that was under the tape deck he picked it up and looked it over. He started the tape again. "take the key card and place it on the mouse pad. The door will open. Leave the facility with this recording and get into your car." Andrew stopped the tape, now why leave work? Well if it got him out what would it hurt? He placed the card on the mouse pad and heard the door unlock. He took the cassette deck and headed out the door.

As he passed one hall Jimmy saw and stopped him. "You're out?"

"Yeah, found the reader on the inside." Andrew tried to side step Jimmy.

"Where you off to?"

"Look I have to take care of something I'll be back later." Andrew side stepped again. "If anyone asks I went to pick up lunch."

"Um alright Andrew." Jimmy watched his friend leave rather puzzled.

He got into his car and then started the tape again. The voice that seemed like Martin's started again. "Head as you would if you were going home."

That was fairly simple Andrew did as it instructed and merged on to the freeway. The tape played itself and the tone of voice seemed to sound like a chorus rather than Martin's single voice.

"Exit here."

Andrew was not that familiar with this area of the freeway but did as tool. It was obvious there was not much around and at the stop near the end of the ramp the cassette played again.

"Turn left."

It dawned on Andrew that he was taking instruction from a cassette, but at the same time it was obviously put there for him to hear it. He looked down at it for a moment and wondered why he had bother after it had opened the lab door. Still he was here and what could it hurt.

"Three and one half miles stop vehicle."

Now that was different, the sound of the cassette deck was certainly much more metallic and harmonious. Not something he would usually consider to be calling a cassette deck. Realization dawned on him as he drove watching the odometer rise then stopped the car. He looked at the cassette deck and recalled some of the futile research he attempted last night. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands it was not plastic like it should have been and it had the distinctive Decepticon insignia on the window. He berated himself for a moment as if he should have known when he first picked up the cassette deck, then shook his head, the probabilities of it happen was ridiculously low there was no way he would have thought that he would have found one of these in his lab. He got out of the car and held the tape deck a little longer.

"Now what I'm here." He watched it until it shook out of its hand bending and folding out of its self into a much larger robot than he had thought possible. He backed up away from it as it grew pushing himself up against his car to make sure he was clear of it. As it finished he remembered which one this was. Soundwave, it was almost amusing, but practically terrifying at the same time. This one did not talk much and always seemed to get right down to work. All of that begged the question. "What do you want with me?"

Soundwave had to take a step back to see the human that questioned him. He said nothing but called for Skywarp to teleport in at the prearranged location.

A bright purple flash caused Andrew to put his hand up and shield his eyes. His little bit of research was finally coming back to him, if the Decepticons were anything like the Autobots then their names would relate in some way to their function. It was obvious that Soundwave's already did, which would make the one that just showed up Skywarp. Near his car the black and purple jet sat, Skywarp was in jet mode and had his cockpit window open. Suddenly Andrew got a feeling he was going to be in it. If he had anywhere to go he would go now, but he was already making an imprint of his ass in his car, or well that is what it felt like.

"We have been ordered to bring you to Megatron." No sense beating around the bush, Soundwave had much better things to do than play baby sitter to a human. "You can choose to come or we will force you."

"Let's not and say we did, I don't want nasty human blood all over my cockpit. I just cleaned it out." Skywarp protested.

Soundwave only stared at Andrew waiting for his response.

As if there was anything he could do. He was not a real fan on pain, and he most certainly would encounter a tremendous about of it if he decided to go all noble and attempt escape. His mind raced though several debates on what if he went and what if he tried to escape. Each time it ended up he was caught anyway so he finally looked up at Soundwave and cleared his throat. "This is about the generator isn't it?"

Nodding Soundwave sensed Andrew's wonder and curiosity, he had to admit to himself that it was much easier to deal with a willing human than a non willing one.

A bit of fear finally rose up into the pit of Andrew's stomach as he realized he might not come back from this little adventure. He stood up from his leaning position on his car, and looked over at Skywarp's canopy. Andrew had flown a few times in his life, various science related affairs, but never in a fighter jet. He took one step and looked back at his car, wondering if he would ever come back to it.

Kneeling somewhat Soundwave set a sensor on Andrew's car and instantly it disappeared. If Andrew did indeed come back it would be waiting here for him.

His view set solely on Skywarp now Andrew started walking.

Entering his quarters Spike looked around. Things were just about how they should be only there were additions. There was a bra on his bed, and a skirt as well as some other feminine looking clothes that he knew for a face were not his. He rubbed his fore head and brow as he realized who they had belonged to. Even though he was sure that she had gone home somehow or other Nicole had managed to make it back to the Volcano. He sighed and headed to the control room maybe he would find some answers there.

"Hey Spike," Jazz said in greeting.

"Jazz, do you know anything about that girl Nicole?" the man in his early twenties stopped and looked up at the much taller robot.

"Um, if I remember right," Which was not really the issue just the way Jazz had picked up speech from humans, " Prime told Perceptor she could stay for some testing."

"I thought Carly was going to do that?" Spike had hoped that Carly's college work would be done soon and she would return back.

"Nicole offered when Perceptor suggested it, and Carly is going to be gone for a while." Jazz explained. He was the third in command and such changes around the base came to him via the information link or to Spike Email reports.

"OH, is she going to get her own quarters?" Of course that was the next question, he did not want to have to share his.

"I think Wheeljack and Ratchet are going change one of the side rooms for her. Probably on it now." Jazz nodded.

"Where are they?"

"Wheeljack's lab I think." Jazz smiled

Getting underway Spike nodded. "Thanks Jazz."

It had taken Spike a long time to learn the base, but he finally found coding on the walls and doors that he could associate with. Not that he could read any of it, but it was a mental marker for him. More often than not he did not need them any more so he watched his own feet as he walked toward Wheeljack's lab. At first he was not sure he wanted to go to Wheeljack's lab, things happened in there that caused trouble. It was not that Wheeljack was bad, but his ideas and out comes were not the best at times. Still he meant good, and that is the nature of being an inventor. Ratchet could usually be found in there as well specially if there was nothing going on in the medical bay, and with the addition of Perceptor that freed more of Ratchet's time up to basically fix whatever it was Wheeljack was working on. Spike stopped at the door and listened. The act was futile, as the doors were much thicker than he could hear though. But it was an old thing that he was used to doing since he was a human. After not hearing anything for a moment he neared the door and it opened. He looked around and noticed that the lab was actually empty. Something turned in his stomach, it did not feel right, what it was he could not yet put his finger on. Standing there in the door way, he figured if they were not here, they were probably in the medical lab then.

The door opened to the medical lab, and Perceptor was fussing at a table. Spike did not see anyone else around. "Perceptor, have you see that girl Nicole?"

"No I have not, in fact they were due back here nearly an hour ago." Perceptor looked up and around the lab. "Bumblebee was sent to the city to get a few things for the machine that I need to do the scanning. He has not returned yet either."

"She probably went with him them. I wonder what's taking them so long." Spike headed back to his quarters, since he was here not he might as well help her clean up so she can take her things to her own room.

"I like this," Nicole had her hand out Bumblebee's window as they sped down the highway. "Did we get everything?"

"I think so, but I don't think Perceptor meant for us to go on a shopping spree." Bumblebee slowed as he rounded one corner and then headed into the forest area near the Volcano.

"I needed stuff, a girl just can't change her life in an instant and not have stuff to go with it." She could see the shadow of the ominous Volcano coming to meet them as the yellow bug sped toward it. She was not sure what Perceptor was going to do, but she wanted to be ready for just about anything.

Bumblebee stopped just outside the arch way into the Ark. Spike was outside already sitting on a rock when Nicole spotted him, "Oh hey, you back!"

"Yeah I noticed you took over my room." He had not meant to snap at her but he was used to being center of attention.

"Oh, sorry." Nicole grabbed her things out of Bumblebee and let him transform. "I will get them out right now."

Bumblebee took the machine parts and headed into the Ark Nicole and her bags on his heels. "I'll show you where Spike's quarters are again."

"Thanks Bumblebee, I wonder what Spike's problem is." She looked back at Spike that had not moved.

"You did sort of take over his room." Bumblebee stopped at the door to Spike's quarters.

"I didn't mean to." Nicole steeped in and found her things all stuffed into her pack on the foot of the bed. She grabbed it and slung it over her shoulder then ran back out and headed after Bumblebee, "Wait, wait up, Spike had my stuff waiting for me so I might as well get it and go now. Do you think Wheeljack has my room ready?"

"Let's hope so, or you going to be spending the night in the medical bay."

Nicole watched as Bumblebee got a head of her and then she started to walk. She did not want to sleep in the medical bay, she did not like the idea of anyone coming in at any time, and it was cold.

"Bumblebee!" Wheeljack called. "Over here."

The yellow bug headed down a different corridor, "Is it finished Wheeljack?"

"Yeah we were just testing things." He nodded.

Nicole brightened up, "For me?" She asked looking into the room.

"Go on in," Ratchet smiled. "We were hoping to finish it before you got back."

Going in Nicole felt more welcomed than she had when she first arrived. The room did not look much different than that of Spike's save for a bit of color change. "Wow," She put her things down on the bed. Then looked around at the more intricate details. "Looks good."

"We updated everything to a new version so if you order toast it will have a plate and everything." Wheeljack said proudly.

She walked over to the replicator and asked it for a ham sandwich. Instantly the sandwich and plate phased into existence. "Will it learn something?" She wondered looking at the fact that the sandwich had no condiments on it.

"Yeah, it should have no problem giving you whatever you want." Wheeljack's optics brightened.

"Thanks um," Nicole thought about it for a moment then perked up. "Wheeljack, you two Ratchet."

"Perceptor is still waiting," Bumblebee reminded.

That caught her attention and rather than put things away, Nicole came out with sandwich in hand and followed the others to Perceptor's lab.

The dark did not bother him, but the fact that there was very little sound made him wonder what exactly had happened. Starscream's systems registered as functional, yet offline. It was obvious that he had not been meant to move. Each one of his limbs were sensitive, he could feel them, yet there was no will no motion no control. His processor was online, obviously he was self aware. One by painstaking one, he went through his start up codes, each one had been overridden by an outside force. No doubt Hook's expertise he thought. If he would have laughed he would have, he had engaged a secondary protocol to return his cerebro processor's functions just for this purpose. After all his dealings with Megatron had left him offline on several occasions it was only a matter of time until the War Lord decided not to reactivated him. He had not heard any sound in sometime so he figured it must be later at night. His optics refused to work just as his appendages had, and an attempt to make a sound might alert someone. That was something Starscream was not ready for. IF they can dome down and found his systems rebooting as it were he would be put offline and they would know what to look for to turn them off. Now that he knew what he was playing with he was not about to let that happened. It took longer than he expected for his cerebro processor systems to awake his conscious mind. Longer still to get his internal chronometer to function again. He cursed himself for not timing his abilities better. He had been off line for two solar cycles roughly 49 hours. It was time to start putting himself back together. First he would need his vision, he scanned though the codes and blocks and reinstated the reboot code with his own internal override. That alone took two hours. Again he berated himself for not having figured out how to do this previously. His optics came on slowly as power was drawn from his systems their deep ruby slowly becoming vibrant. So he was in the medical bay, then when he got his motion back he might be able to finish his own work before anyone would notice he was online. Brining his motions on line was going to take longer than he expected. Setting one in motion he resigned himself back into stasis with a reminder on his Chronometer when to wake him to start the next one.

The chronometer turned on his consciousness again, Starscream did not bother to light his optics. He was not actually aware if there was anyone present to see he was online. Listening again to what was going on he could hear the heavy footfalls of Bonecrusher. His clocked told him he had been offline this time for nearly twelve hours. Patiently he waited for Bonecrusher to move out of the room before testing to see what part of him he would be able to move. At first there was nothing, and then one finger on his left and moved, he flexed and hands were working rather well; at least from the wrist down. That particular code he had pulled out of a bundle, he needed a starting point to which he could label which code did what. Lining them up he projected at time of completion at four days and seventeen hours. He added that time to his clock and again shut down. When he was brought back online again he would be fully functional.

There was never enough time, work was something that was never finished, and in Megatron's train of thought it never would be. Naturally there were times when one was at rest, but work, and conquest waited for no one. He had several things he had been planning as of late. Shockwave had increased the take of Energon to their home planet of Cybertron which had in turn increased the amount that he wanted to keep on hand. In the grand scheme of things Cybertron was to be his base planet, a war world that had strangle holds on outer lying planets not only though the spacebridge but actual interstellar travel. Cybertron however was not in a state where it could function as such; Optimus Prime's attempt to find energy however was perfect as it landed them here on Earth a planet just ripe for the taking. If only the miserable Autobots had been destroyed in the crash it would have been perfect. He growled at himself for not having made Earth into his own personal resource as of yet and pulled up the projected print of his next plan, and began to study it. With Starscream offline, things had to change, the other seekers would not follow directions as well without their leader. Nor would they have his ability to change things at the last moment. Which means Megatron himself would have to guide them first on exactly what he wanted done and how. It was a much more daunting task than he had wanted to do. Still he had some time to fill before Soundwave arrived with the human that created the amplifier. Now there was a thought. Implications of this little or big machine were near endless; the amounts of energy that he would be able to amass near infinite. A dark smirk placed itself on Megatron's face. He got up and exited the office in a brisk pace, he wanted another look at that little piece of aluminum that a mere human created.

Bonecrusher looked at Starscream's body lying there. He disliked just looking at it even when it was animated little lone laying here hooked to a spark monitor. Long Haul walked past, just short of the end of the table. "I still say we should just terminate him now."

"Why don't we?" Long Haul looked over at the unmoving seeker.

"Because Megatron would kill us if we did." Scrapper passed them going in the other direction.

Bonecrusher glared at Scrapper, and then back at Starscream, "It could have been an accident." He smirked.

"Right, and Hook makes mistakes? Megatron would have us all killed for that." Long Haul shook his head. "I'm not that stupid."

"We'd all be better off without him." Bonecrusher left the table and headed out the exit.

"We might have take him off the rotational duty." Scrapper watched as the door closed behind Bonecrusher.

"That means our hours will be longer." Long Haul's done was almost whiny.

"Better than being killed by Megatron." Scrapper added.

Megatron had watched the entire scene play out before him, it was not a secret that most of the Empire disliked the seeker. He was unaware it was to the point of blatant murder. Then again even Megatron himself was not above killing to gain rank. He stepped forward of the shadow and through the hall that connected the main repair room to one of the other surgical rooms. "Scrapper."

The smaller lime green and purple construction vehicle turned in nearly a jump. "Yes Might Megatron?"

"Take Bonecrusher off the list if you must, see that my Air Commander is not to be disturbed." Megatron had a look at Starscream for himself. He looked in rather pristine condition actually. Hook's work was always to be commended, if he made such things.

"Yes Mighty Megatron. I will get him into a private room and he will not be disturbed." Scrapper made the arrangements and then nodded toward Long Haul to help him move the Seeker.

The posture that Long Haul used while prepping the table for moving told Scrapper everything he need to know about having to do something that was a transportation of a sort. Long Haul basically hated his function. The two of them wheeled the table into the room that Megatron had just vacated and slid the Air Commander on to the permanent table inside. "Megatron really means to keep him?" Long Haul asked.

"It would appear so." Scrapper answered. Scrapper hooked the items up that allowed Starscream's systems to stay functioning despite the stasis lock. The headed back out to the central room where Megatron stood waiting. "He will not be disturbed now." Scrapper offered.

"Good." Megatron looked around. "Now tell me what have you learned about that amplifier?"

Scrapper's optics winded, so that was why the Decepticon leader decided to come all the way down here. "It's in here Might Megatron." Scrapper showed Megatron to the room he had set aside for dismantling the amplifier.

Across the table there were parts sitting about, each one had its own marking, number and name, as well as its corresponding parts number. It was easy to see Scrapper had methodically, taken it apart and was ready to begin reproduction.

"Excellent work Scrapper have you been able to create a working replica?" He looked over the table a little more.

"No Megatron, I have only just laid it out. My next step is gathering necessary equipment for reproduction." Scrapper explained the best he could. He knew what the metal was inside the amplifier but not how or where Starscream had got it.

"You have figured out what it was that made the change in the generator?" Megatron noticed most of the parts were practical, and he himself could build a generator if he had to.

"Um, Yes, but I am uncertain where it came from." Scrapper picked up what seemed to them a very find strand of coiled wire.

Megatron looked at it for a second, in this form it was hard to tell what it was at all other than a bit of obvious wire. "Explain."

Wrapping it around his finger, Scrapper charged it with a little of his own energy, it retracted into an even more thinner wire. "Where ever he got it from they've used some of our metallic synthesized metal."

Megatron's brow lowered. He did not need to be talked down to, to understand what Scrapper was saying. "When Hook looked over Starscream did he see anything missing?"

That really was an understatement as there was a lot of things that were missing due to the fusion blast. "If it had been in an area where he was hit with your blast we will never know. The rest of him was completely intact."

"Is there a way of finding out who it belonged too?" Megatron wanted to narrow it down as fast possible.

"Negative, it shows no signature link." Scrapper's face shown the dismay regardless of the facemask he wore.

Well that meant it was time to put two and two together and get four. "Do you think that he has devised way to manufacture it?"

Scrapper looked at and then pulsed the energy in reverse as Andrew had done when he had figured out what he wanted to do a few days previously. The wire seemed to grow and fill out around Scrapper's finger. "We have never used this for anything else before."

That was a giving normally you don't use body parts in applications like this. "Answer the question."

"Starscream might have been an idiot, but he was a scientist too. I suppose if he had the time and resources he could have." Scrapper stopped the energy and the wire reverted back to its original state. "How he got it in a shape I am not sure I will ever know."

"Has Hook over looked this yet?" Megatron knew that Hook's surgical knowledge might actually help in this instance.

"Negative. I also want Soundwave to have a look at it." Scrapper admitted.

"Very well Scrapper, very good indeed. See that Hook and Soundwave both have their time to examine this. I will ask Thundercracker and Skywarp if they know where Starscream got it from." He turned and headed out of the medical bay. He would have just enough time to make it to his office before Soundwave would be back with the human.

6NaNoWriMo


	7. Chapter 6 Flawless Plans

Chapter 6. Flawless Plans.

Flying high above the cloud cover there was not really much for Andrew to see. Skywarp's color's made him stand out against most things, and with the governments that ruled over Earth it was best to stay above and out of view or below radar. Here in the top of the atmosphere, Soundwave could distort the ways around him and even mask Skywarp's jet signature to resemble a satellite orbiting at low altitudes. It made for a rather boring flight so Andrew decided he was going to look across at Soundwave. He had a hard time contemplating the complexity of how that giant robot managed to shrink down small enough to be a hand held micro cassette recorder. Then again he had to smile at himself as well, the scientist in him wanted to know how it could be done so that he can do it as well. That would be something he could sell, and make a profit on. He would never have to leave home ever again with something like that. Hell for that matter use it on his house and take it with him. He shook his head that thought was ridiculous, but then again was it? After all it had to have compressed the cassettes with in his body as well not just the outside since then the cassettes would come bursting out and damaging him as well. He wondered if the growth or shrinkage could be control, like if Soundwave had waned to, could he transform into a boom box, size instead of all the way down. Or maybe when he transformed back he could only grow till he was perhaps 6 feet tall and pass for a human. Andrew's brain buzzed with questions until the jet he rode in suddenly decided he was going to do a few barrel rolls. His harness pulled tight as gravity took over throwing him nearly out of his seat and to the glass. He was lucky that he had pulled it tight or his face would be part of the cockpit window. His stomach turned with him, only it did not like it as much as he had thought he would. Which one was it again, his over worked brain could not remember, then it dawn on him suddenly.

"Skywarp!"

The dash of the jet lit up with lights and the speakers voice came to life. "What'da you want?"

"Keep this up and I'm going to puke." Andrew tried to hold himself in the seat but his weight and the power of the g-forces was too much to overcome.

Thinking about it Skywarp leveled out. He had already told Soundwave he did not want human mess in his cockpit and he was not about to induce vomit himself, though he had to admit that would be mildly hilarious. "Fine party pooper."

Andrew looked at the console that flashed at him when Skywarp spoke. "If I pushed the stick forward would it work?" that was something that he had wondered the second he had got into Skywarp.

"I don't ferry humans around." Which was Skywarp's way of saying do not touch anything.

Andrew took a firm grasp of the stick and yoke that was before him. "Are you sure?" He had wanted to test it, though he was sure he was not going to be doing any barrel rolls if he could keep from doing so.

"Fine, it is linked to the drive system. Fly by wire if you know what that means smart guy." Skywarp hated to admit to it, but Andrew did sort of have him by the stick.

He tested it, slide it to the left just a hair and watched as Skywarp began to bank toward Soundwave. The blue robot looked over and his optic visor brightened in irritation having had to slid over to keep from being hit. Andrew realized how easy it was to do something stupid in the air quickly and released the stick. "I was just curious." He said.

"Last human that got curious decided he was going to go kamikaze, let's just say he didn't make it." Skywarp had no issues killing humans particularly ones that wanted to damage him in the process.

"Sounds messy." Andrew shook his head.

"It was, but it was funny too." Skywarp chuckled.

Soundwave sped up a little ahead of them giving the signal to the base to raise the tower. He had enough of the games and Skywarp's little brash attitude for one day. The long opening draw type bridge opened permitting Soundwave and Skywarp to land, though this time Skywarp use it more like a run way so he would not have to pull Andrew out at the last minute as he transformed. The tower closed and Skywarp's cockpit opened allowing Andrew to climb out.

Ugh, Andrew jumped the last rung on the ladder from Skywarp's cockpit. IT was the first time he had ever felt sick on a ride, and that included theme park rides. The free flight of a jet was something else totally different, it made him want to do it again, though tighten himself in and of course be aware of the flight pattern beforehand. The instant he looked around he got a sense of something totally different, not only because it was, it was because of the moment of the tower. He had not realized that the elevator effect would have such an impact on him as he felt thing in his pockets get lighter. He himself was in no danger of rising up, but the smaller things seemed to want to float about. He thought for a second if he'd have had a coffee cup he would have had to test its ability to float. He smiled at the thought then looked up at Soundwave. He seemed to be the one in control of the little expedition to come get him. He walked a little across the way being careful how he did as he actually did feel himself lift at a point.

Not moving Soundwave knew what Andrew wanted. Humans were much easier to read than his own race, their body language gave away most things. "We brought you here to replicate your amplifier."

There was a look on Andrew's face for a second, he had not realized that it was amplifying at the time, simply because he was looking to produce energy and he had, he had not realized that the reversing of the polarity had caused it to use energy as well as put out. "Don't you already have it?"

Soundwave nodded. "It is here, Scrapper has taken it apart."

"Taken it apart?" Andrew turned white as a sheet. "I built it from the ground up, it took me nearly two months to get it up and running."

"Scrapper has disassembled it in six hours." Soundwave said looking down at the human.

Andrew has having a hard time contemplating how he was ever going to anything here if they were so far ahead of what he was already thinking. "Why do you need me then?"

"Megatron's orders." Soundwave answered.

He had nearly forgot about that. Megatron was the leader. The one that carried that massive cannon on his arm. He would have to face that leader and the cannon, what did it matter though anyone of the others could swat him like a fly right out of existence. He sighed hard, whatever Megatron wanted him for they sure went out of their way to make sure that his company was not hurt or damaged. That was not like how he remembered the last meetings with the jets. He suspected that Skywarp was not the leader, but he found that on the internet. Most of the pictures he had seen the silver, red and blue one leading which he had finally decided was Starscream. He was obviously not around.

When the tower lift hit the ground Andrew nearly fell, his lighter than air walk was over and he wasn't expecting it causing one knee to give way. Not something he had liked. These were the war machines, the Decepticons, ones that hated weakness. He thought about that for half a second and then decided he probably should not have told Skywarp he was going to puke either. But safer to do so than be killed for having his stomach's contents on the jet's console. He stood up in his place and looked around, Skywarp transformed, and headed through a door way, but Soundwave had yet to move. He was unsure what to do, he had no knowledge of where anything was or how to go about doing things.

After a few moments Soundwave kneeled and placed his hand down. "You will come with me." He said in his same harmonic tones.

Of course Andrew complied and sat on Soundwave's hand allowing him to take him up into the air. That was another eerie feeling and even a bit of a weightlessness as Soundwave stopped his hand suddenly and Andrew popped up just a hair. "I guess we are going to go see the leader?" It was not a question really, it was just the next logical step.

"Affirmative." Soundwave began to walk making his way to Megatron's office pretty much ignoring everything else, or well that's what it looked like. His sensors and optic visor caught everything. Including Astrotrain's disgust. He stood at the door to Megatron's office his sensors on full, he was not stupid, and would rather know what type of a mood the War Lord was in before entering to he could adjust. Seemingly content inside, Soundwave signaled his presence, he had no need for buttons.

The look on Megatron's face components changed from that of thought to amusement. He knew very well that signal meant Soundwave had returned. He turned to face the door and allowed entry with his standard greeting. "Come."

Taking the cue without hesitation, Soundwave entered. "Human retrieved." He announced.

"Excellent work Soundwave." It was obvious that the human had agreed to since it was sitting on Soundwave's hand. "Bring it here." On closer inspection it was a male, about age twenty-four, that was slightly surprising, most of the humans that seemed worth anything, and even then that was questionable, were all older.

Soundwave lowered his hand to Megatron's desk allowing Andrew to step down and stand on the desk. It was rather awkward to be put on display, or seemingly sized up, but he did not have much choice. His lack of information on Decepticons was being filled at the moment and he would be best to let them do as they would rather than get in the way. His curiosity was nagging harshly at the back of his mind to start analyzing things and ask questions. He pushed it back though knowing it was not the time for it. Some questions were answered simply by being there; Yes, Megatron was the leader. Yes, Soundwave did not talk much but seemed to be in a leadership role as well; which one he had not yet figured out. The one jet was Skywarp, that was fact as he had seen it teleport. Which as another barrel of monkeys he had hoped to open later.

Watching the man look around Megatron gave him a decent once over. He was just like any other human, granted he had not aimed any insults at them nor had he made any attempt to escape. Dr. Archevil had never really tried to escape either, but that intolerable human talked way too much. The good Dr. had thought he was on par with the Decepticons when he was very much far from it. Megatron had his own curiosity, just as his Decepticons were different each human was just a little different, some of them, in fact most of them would be considered allied with the Autobots their frame of mind warped around what was supposed to be all that was good. Then there were the few that might be considered his allies ones that would devote themselves to Megatron, and his Decepticons, they however were the greedy, and wicked, vile creatures if he had ever met one. He stared at the man for a long time debating on which one he thought this human was going to turn out to be. He leaned forward in his chair and addressed Andrew directly. "What is your name human?"

For a second Andrew looked back at Megatron in surprise, he did not think the lead would care enough to know his name. "Andrew." He answered hastily after that.

"No Doctor, or Professor? Have you no formal education?" Megatron knew what happened on this planet, it would be stupid of him not to have learned how to handle a species when residing on their home planet. He had done enough of his own research to make him versed in human behavior. This human seemed to have some sort of mild shock or the realization had not set in yet.

"I have a few degrees, but I don't like to be called anything special." Which was the truth. Andrew disliked the formality of it since those that he knew best had none, and seemed to feel inferior to him. He never picked up being called anything but Andrew.

Handing Megatron a datapad Soundwave had already gone though the man's history and education, which is why his file had been on display at the company. The leader scanned it over quickly and then turned his attention back to the human again. "So you have a lot of commendations, as well as credits and they see you as an asset to their work. Interesting. What do you know about the materials that were given to you, to create this amplifier?"

Taking a moment to really think about it, Andrew shrugged, then spoke. "I ordered it. It had no links to its origin, it came, and I installed it. That's it." He looked up at the leader who sat back in the chair.

"What makes your generator any different than any other generator?" Megatron questioned.

"I hand built it. I changes a lot of the specs that other generators have. And well I had not expected it to become an amplifier." Andrew rubbed the back of his head. "It took me two months to get that generator right where I wanted it. And then of course it was… came up missing." He debated of if stolen would be the right word if they had been funding the project in the first place.

"Indeed. Can you replicate the process?"

"If I had all my notes, I don't see why not. Materials would be needed of course." For an instant he could not believe what he was saying. It sounded as if he was really going to help the Decepticons. "If you have all the information why do you need me for?" It had come out faster than he had hoped, he almost flinched in the process. If they did not need him after all the they could just simply kill him on the spot and be done with it. Definitely something he did not want.

The Decepticon Leader's optics narrowed, this human had more barings that he thought. He obviously was not in shock like he had first suspected. "Soundwave has brought you here because I so ordered. As for needing you, understand this, Decepticons are not in need of humans in anyway. The company you worked for was nothing but a toy created by one of my officers nothing more."

That was a harsh blow to Andrew, but a wakeup call as well. His existence was nothing but something to play with for them. He would have to pick and choose his words carefully if he wanted to survive. He was for the moment unable to say anything for lack of complaint about the foolishness of up till this point his entire life. The best he could do was nod. He at least understood what was being said.

Raising an optic brow Megatron watched Andrew a little longer. "I am pleased that you understand you position here. However you may be removed at any time I wish. You are also not to have contact with Starscream."

Andrew could not help the look of odd inquiry that came to his face. He had no real reason to talk to Starscream, nor had he ever talked to Starscream in the first place.

The answer Megatron was looking for was not what he had got. "He has had no contact with him has he?"

Soundwave moved his head from side to side, "Negative, subject has never been introduced to Starscream."

It was a comfort not to have to explain that one. Andrew watched listening to what was going on.

"You have his work with you?"

Again Soundwave nodded, he had downloaded the entire database of the company so anything else that sparked his interest he would have access too as well. "Affirmative."

"Excellent. Take our friend here to Scrapper. Then find out if where Starscream got the alloy." Megatron watched as Soundwave put his hand down for Andrew to climb back into it.

"I take it my stay has been extended then?" He said wondering if they knew what it would take to sustain a human for a period of time.

"Yes, for now. Anything you need will be given to you thought Soundwave. I suggest you make a list of anything you may need, and make sure you do not leave anything out or you will find that it will be harder to get later."

Andrew got into Soundwave's hand an looked up at him. "Does that include a place to sleep?"

Chuckling Megatron smirked. "We still have the old Doctor's quarters, you may use that and change it to suit you."

That was somewhat comforting. He sat in Soundwave's hand and felt himself being lifted again. A list of needs. Sounds like some camping trip he thought. As he was carried from Megatron's office he began to look around more, if he was staying he was going to need to figure out where things were and how to get around. He knew that the Decepticons did not care for humans which mean he himself was going to have to make sure he was not stepped on or anything like that. Soundwave put him down at a door, this door was not fit for Transformers though, the taller robot pressed the data pad that seemed to pass for key locks and the door slid open.

"Touch the command pad." Soundwave said. His voice obviously and order not a request.

Andrew did it, and a small shock made him flinch. He looked at it but did not move his hand.

"It will respond to you now." Soundwave informed him.

Moving his hand off the wall and then back on it, the door opened permitting him to go inside. "Are we going to Scrapper now?"

"Affirmative."

He looked inside for a moment then came back out. "First, I'll need away to find my way around. There aren't any markings I am familiar with." It was not really a demand, but Megatron had told him to make sure he told Soundwave what he needed.

He would soon have to go and make a list, then again he would have to ask Soundwave if food was part of that list. Ongoing list indeed. He looked up at Soundwave curious if he was going to be carried again, or if he was meant to follow.

Soundwave actually stood back and pressed the button on his chest panel opening the large window that made up most of his front. "Ravage Eject."

A black cassette slid out of the panel and unfolded into a small black panther. It looked back up at Soundwave then at Andrew. "Take him to the Medical bay." Soundwave's tone of voice held no harsh tones, but it was easy to see that it was meant as an order.

Softy Ravage growled his response and then came closer to Andrew giving him a good sniff as he walked past him.

Not sure what he should do Andrew did not move. He realized that this was a robotic cat, but the feeling of wanting to run still pulled at his muscles. Ravage growled in Andrew's direction, then looked the other way. Hearing what Soundwave had said, he followed the cat down the hall.

The machine hummed while Nicole lay still in it. This was the beginning of Preceptors long battery of tests. When she laid down he assured her that it would not be painful, but the hum seemed rather loud. She held still as he revolved around her, it was much more complex than that of any hospital she knew, of course it was not as if she was in hospitals often. As it worked its way up from her toes to her head the hum increased. She wanted to reach up and cover her ears to help drowned out the sound, but Perceptor had told her not to move. "Perceptor?" She called though she was not sure that he could hear her over the sound of the machine. Nothing happened. The band that was circling her was around her chest, she could feel the vibration though out her body. She held still a little longer then called again "Perceptor!"

The microscope scientist paused the machine, "Nicole?" He looked down the tube at her.

"The sound, it's so loud." She shook her head, still hearing the ringing.

The Autobot examined the machine, and tweaking one of is servo motors and giving it a bit of oil as well. "Well now let's try this." Once again he started the machine this time the sound was much softer.

Nicole smiled, "Much better." She said though she was sure that she was pretty much saying it to herself.

The machine moved and then slid and moved again, it kept up its testing for nearly two hours before Preceptor opened it up and allowed Nicole to sit up. "It is very interesting, but I think you may want a break."

"Yeah, I gotta go." She got up fairly quickly and headed back to her room.

Ratchet stood there and looked at Preceptor with a look of 'I told you so' on his faceplate. "You forget that she is a human."

"How could I possibly forget that?" Preceptor said mildly shocked.

"As a human she has needs, don't forget that. I would assume she had to go to the waste receptacle." Ratchet attempted to explain.

The dawn of realization hit Perceptor like a ton of bricks. "OH, I see. I shall endeavor to remember that when she returns."

"I should say so." Ratchet examined some of the results that came from the tests. "What is it you are looking for exactly?"

"There are a lot of differences between male and female than just gender Ratchet." He pulled up a scan and pointed to a section "The brain patterns themselves are somewhat different, she makes a great subject for my next project."

"Another project? Between you and Wheeljack, I have no time to rest." Ratchet crossed his arms across his chest. "And did Optimus Prime approve of this project?"

There was a long silence, before Perceptor shook his head no. "I have not had the time to write up that report yet."

"Before you go making more mess of this poor girl's life I suggest you make sure that it is approved by both of them." Ratchet handed Perceptor a data pad for him to begin his report. Looking at it the scientist took it and began to work.

Coming in the door at that sight Wheeljack laughed out loud. "HA! He got you to do reports too?"

"If you would do them when they were needed, I wouldn't have to keep on you about it." He said in a gruff tone.

"I am sure Prime thanks you for that." Wheeljack said back in jest.

"I have not failed to give my reports to Optimus on time, not once." Perceptor said still concentrating on his new report.

After taking care of everything and waiting another half hour so her body can feel normal again Nicole ate and headed back to Perceptor's lab. "Alright I feel much better now." She said walking in with a smile.

The room did not stop for her entry. The occupants went about her work as if she had not even come in at all. A little disheartened, she made her way to the back of the room and attempted to scale one of the latter's that had been made for Spike to join them. She however was much shorter than he was and the rungs were much farther apart than they had originally looked. About half way up she paused and looked up to see how much further it was going to be. When she saw the task at hand she called again "Perceptor!"

Being engrossed into his report Perceptor finally looked to see what was calling him. He disliked that his audios were not picking her voice out of the other noises and changed the priority to that it would catch his attention much quicker. "What can I do for you Nicole?" He had asked as if it were no big deal.

Nicole suddenly got the impression that he did not like her. "Can I get a little help here before I fall to my death?" her voice was full of sarcasm. Their table was much too high and too rough for her to climb without first getting some stamina.

Looking down his highly tuned optics make the observation, she was having complications traversing the latter. He offered his hand down to her and she stepped out onto it with a bit of a wobble, then fell to her hands and knees as he began to move her. Perceptor paced his hand on the table so she could stand then step down. "I had not realized your height would give you issues using the same tools that Spike does."

"And here I thought that all these tests would have told you that by now." She said looking at the monitor.

"No, but it has made you a perfect candidate for my next project." He said his tone a highly hearted nature.

She looked at him seriously for a moment, "And why isn't Spike you're next project?"

A schematic of her brain patterns, and the previous flexibility test came up in comparison to Spikes. "He is not suited for it. His patterns are not as clear, and are structured differently. His physical structure is made up of more dense muscle and he cannot stretch as you are able." He pointed as he talked showing her differences. "I do have to finish my proposal to Optimus before I can technically ask you if you are willing to participate."

If he needed clearance to take on a project she figured it seemed routine. "What is it?"

Perceptor pulled out a small box, "I had originally made it for Spike, but when he was put into an Autobot body it was set aside and discarded for fear that it may hurt him further mentally."

Naturally Nicole had heard nothing about that, it was kept hush hush from the public. "He was tuned into a Transformer?"

The look on Perceptor's face told her everything she needed to know. He did not answer but checked over the machine in his hands. "It was a converter." He started.

"Sorry I didn't know I wasn't supposed to know." She said trying to play it off in a smile.

"Do not concern you self with it. But this will change your body's energy into something a Transformer can use." He proceeded to tell her how he had hoped that it would work in a pinch to help give them some advantage over the Decepticons, a small replenish able power source would keep them fighting longer. It made sense to Nicole.

"Yeah and put more humans at risk. Not to mention if the Decepticons got hold of this what they would do with it?" Ratchet interrupted.

"The whole process would be voluntary of course." Perceptor added quickly.

"And the Decepticons would take hostages, and force them to do their work." Ratchet grumbled some more.

Looking at him she could not tell that he was one of the senior officers, but he certainly sounded like it. She looked up at Perceptor and in a serious tone loud enough she knew they could all hear her. "Does he ever say anything nice?"

Perceptor shook his head negatively. "Not normally, anything he expects everything turns out is going to turn out into a mess and something is going to make him repair it."

"I see, he thinks that if he cries and throws fits that he will make people not want to do things and he won't have to work on anything?" Nicole made a face at Ratchet taunting him.

Wheeljack tried his best not to laugh. "Yeah, you're right about that."

She giggled for a second then came closer to what Perceptor was holding. "So I put that thing on and it generates energy you can use?"

With a smile Perceptor fitted it to her.

Ratchet crossed his arms again. "And have you told Prime?"

Ignoring Ratchet, Perceptor got the machine set up on Nicole. "Tighten it down." Nicole did as asked. "Now make sure that all the little nodes are touching bare skin." Again Nicole did as she was instructed.

"So what will it feel like?" She wondered attaching the last of the nodes.

"It might give you the sensation of having an appendage how did Spike say it? Fall asleep?" He rubbed his chin in thought on how exactly he was supposed to explain something he had never had.

"Oh okay, that feeling of your foot being full of sand and stuff, that doesn't hurt." She said with a nod. "and then what happens?"

"You will be then put into a specially made harness that will connect to an Autobot's systems; from there it will draw your energy and convert it." He brought up a screen that gave Nicole an animation of what it should do.

"Looks like a miniature Transformer." She said looking at it her head slightly cocked to one side.

"In a sense yes, but unlike genuine transformers you will not change into something besides your original form." Perceptor shook his head, that was a thought for later. If it worked perhaps there would be a small easily obtainable transformation that the human could enabling it to aid its Autobot counterpart better.

"Well that sucks," Nicole said straight out, she got the pack on and looked at it over her shoulder, its wires snaked down her arms and legs and even one on the back of her neck. "I think I'm ready."

Without a word Perceptor remotely turned the back on, it beeped twice and began to hum, much like the sound of at Transformer's systems. "It should start to work in only a few moments."

Nicole nodded, and listened. The feeling where the sensors were tingled, much like as if that part of her was falling asleep, it was an odd feeling to have on places like her upper arms, and neck. Normally it was the outer appendages that had that feeling, feet, toes, hands and fingers. Once she had her whole leg fall asleep like that, but that was because she had been sitting cross legged for much too long. She decided she wanted to move around a little see how the pack was going to hold up on the move, as she began to lift her knee to take a step she noticed that it felt rather heavy. She instantly began to move other things, hands, and fingers were also experiencing this feeling of weight. "Perceptor? This thing is doing something to my muscles. I makes it hard to move."

"I feared that would happen." He turned the machine off. "Detach yourself."

Taking off the little nodes with the suction cups were a little easier said than done, they had increased the suction when the machine was turned on and had not decreased when it turned off. Removing each one left a rather bright red mark on her skin, as well as a bite of pain when she finally got it off. Nicole looked at the cups, and could not find anything in particular wrong with them, if she did not know better she might have said that she thought they liked her or something to that effect.

Ratchet noticed her looking over the pack. "What's the matter?" His tone was rather grim and rough.

"The suction cups didn't want to come off. No biggie, I got them off anyway." She said handing the pack to Perceptor.

"I will see if there is a problem with them." Perceptor said taking the pack and sitting at his work station.

There was many things that Optimus Prime did not really want to do. One was put more innocent human beings in the line of Megatron's fusion cannon. He had been told by several of the resident Autobots that humans had been attempting to enter the Ark on a fairly consistent basis. That there were several sites on the internet that were dedicated to Autobots, and their ideas of freedom. A few even though they were gods. Of course he was not a god, and nor were any of the other Autobots, but he under stood what hero worship was. He himself had a touch of it back when he was younger, though he grew out of it fast. Spike and his father Sparkplug were exceptions he had made when they first encountered humans. It made sense to him to have someone that knew more about them to aid them. Now though they had learned a lot more since the information internet had been applied. Spike was more of a friend, and an ally that he was a public relations figure as he had started out to be. Sparkplug was all by retired, every now and then he would come and check in on everyone then head back home. His age obviously wearing his energy down faster than it had before. Spike himself obviously spent more time at home now helping with the house chores and what not, and other things that Sparkplug was unable to handle. That left them without a human representative. Something that the Decepticons could not hold on to Optimus had been able to show the world that the Autobots and humans could coexist easily and gain many of favor doing so. That meant that Humans would be on the lookout and would aid him in the fight against the Decepticons. He looked down at the data pad and read it over again. Perceptor was asking to keep this young girl for a project he was working some time ago, but was halted due to the effects on Spike. That was one very clear memories for the Autobot leader. Wheeljack's machine transferred over his life force into that of an Autobot shell, but in the process, the incompatible brainwaves made things complicated, and changed the way Spike was thinking. The human turned Transformer went on a rampage, and out into the near forest where he sided with Megatron. The Decepticon leader's charismatic pull, lured Spike right into his gasp and had him shooting at the Autobots when they had arrived. The thought of humans being pushed into something similar made his core ache. It was against Autobot belief to do such things, and it was in his own power to see that it did not happen here. He leaned back in his seat thinking about the pro's and con's of each decision he had to make that put even more lives at risk. Taking a human into battle, was unnecessary, they had no armor like the Autobots did, and the weapons that were used could obliterate a human with ease. Risking a human in that respect was not an option. Which meant even if the pack Perceptor was working on worked it was not something he would be able to use.

Freedom was another issue, each human though small and by Transformer standards easily killed, had its rights, and freedoms; something that was at the base programming of Optimus' core. If a human chose to risk its life for the benefit of others then that was its choice. In fact many armies worked on a very similar pattern. The weight of leadership pressed on Optimus' shoulders hard making him want to sink into his seat. He thought it was something that came with the seat of leadership, but hoped one day that he too would have the freedoms that he and the other Autobots fought so dearly for. That though was a long ways off, and the war that had been going on for millions of years had taken on a stalemate. It was something he had been taught a long time ago from Alpha Trion as well. War was an arms race, whichever side had the best weapons, or strategies gained power over the other. This was why he encouraged Perceptor, and Wheeljack to do their best and help them discover things that would aid them. His cerebro processor went round and round about it, one thing led to a end which was created by another moral, or standard which he had been sworn to live by. The judgment of a great leader was knowing when to break them, and do what is needed to move on for the better of the population. He had told his oldest foe Megatron one time in the heat of battle, when they had been locked in hand to hand combat, and Megatron laughed at him asking why one human life was worth all the effort; "Because you would never stop at just one Megatron." Deep down he knew Megatron would not stop either. He sided with the freedom, he would approve this project and tell Perceptor that he would need to find away to make the human that used it safer. He used his finger to approve the order. Being a quick and easy procedure, much like an email, Prime sent the notification back to Perceptor.

Nicole looked around at the computer that make a chime, "What's that?"

"That is our conformation on if we can proceed or not with this project." Perceptor explained. He opened up the folder and read what Optimus Prime had to say. After reading it once he repeated. What was most informative, "He has agreed to let us go on with the project provided, we can find away to keep the human using it safer than just the pack."

Wheeljack got one of Spike's exosuit "Maybe we can fit it to one of these?" He held the white thing up.

"Excellent idea Wheeljack." He took the suit and began to work on it.

Walking over Nicole looked at it, "Exosuit?"

Wheeljack nodded, "Yeah we created these for Spike since he was always around, he doesn't use them any more kinda grew out of them. But they should fit you just right." He turned around and took a second one from the cabinet that seemed to have an endless supply. "Here try this one on. We can make adjustments to this one now instead of later."

Looking at it carefully, Nicole crawled into it feet first. "What does it do exactly?" Before anyone could answer, the top snapped shut and it powered up around her. "Hey guys?" Her voice was suddenly amplified out of the suits speakers. She looked around as if she thought they might be mad.

"Whoa slow down there," Wheeljack helped to stand her up on her legs.

She staggered a little making Wheeljack chuckle as it reminded him of how Spike did the first time he put the suit on. She leaned forward and stool a step, then back and held still, her arms out to the side looking for balance. She held her breath for a second trying to feel her way through, "It's like learning to walk all over again.

"That's pretty much what Spike said too." Wheeljack nodded.

"How do I fix it?" Her arms, flailed again just a little still attempting to keep balance.

"Honestly, you have to just do it. Use it get used to it. Don't try to over compensate." It was the truth, Wheeljack had watched Spike. It took some time.

Falling back she put her hands back instinctively and willed them to catch her, instead the suit's thrusters came on and pushed her forward lifting her up off her feet. "Whoa!" She called, as the jets stopped and began to drop her.

Wheeljack caught her. "Alright that's enough." He said setting her down on her aft.

"I can fly?" Nicole was surprised. "I mean well the suit can fly?"

"Yeah it can do everything, even transform." Preceptor said still working. "And when I am done with this one. You will be able to attach to another transformer."

"I think I might have to get used to using it first, I mean before I try to do anything else, it would help to be able to stand up. And maybe walk." For the most part Nicole was serious, she did not like being so out of control, and it moved so easy, rather than being heavy like it looked.

"It is a good thing to get used to it, as you will need to learn it inside and out if you are going to do accomplish this." Perceptor spoke again without looking.


	8. Chapter 7 Tensions Rise

Chapter 7. Tensions Rise

The company kept its usual policy of not displaying any information that was not absolutely necessary, so when Andrew was not at work for several days Martin began to wonder. His first stop would be Jimmy's lab, he was the last person he knew Andrew was talking to. He stopped at the lab door, and looked inside, Jimmy did not seem to be doing anything of any danger, he knocked then opened the door. "Jimmy do you got a moment?"

"Yeah, what do you need Marty?" Jimmy got up from the computer console and met the man half way through the room.

"Have you seen Andrew?" There was no reason to beat around the bush about it. "I know you had looked in on his generator, and since I gave him the new lab he hasn't shown up."

"He was here the day you were out. He came in and said that the lock still hadn't worked, got stuck in the lab for a bit." Jimmy shook his head, he never did figure out how Andrew got out. "Next I knew he was running out the front door, and I haven't seen him since."

"The lock coder said he hadn't used his key." Martin knew that meant there was an outside source at hand. The higher ups did not even have that control. "Never mind I'll see what I can find out."

Jimmy was not sure what else he could do, he knew nothing other than Andrew had basically ran out the door on Friday, it was now Thursday, and he had not seen him either. Now that his lab was across the building he had not expected to see him anyway. If Andrew had needed him for anything he'd have called or got on the messenger system like he had and asked him.

If what Jimmy said was true, than Martin did not like what he had to do next. He headed up to what most called "Upstairs" where the higher ups had their offices. After all they did not become called higher ups for no reason. With a resounding sigh he headed up the long flight of stairs to the secretary's office. He knocked on that door before entering as well realizing he had made a habit out of it and smiled to himself. He opened the door to the surprised secretary who looked at him with a very curious expression.

"How can I help you Mr. Angelo?" Her sweet voice was polite and welcoming.

"Is Forester in? I got a question for him." Martin's lab clothes made him feel slightly out of place in the more business setting of the offices.

"Sure is, he's in his office, I'm sure he'll see you." She pulled up a message and sent the man inside a note that he was to have a visitor.

"Thanks," He pulled the large door open and stepped through to a hall, the office he wanted was only two doors down. Again he knocked, this time waiting for the reply to come in.

A few seconds later the door opened and the finely dressed man held his hand out to Martin for a friendly shake. "Martin, I haven't seen you in here in ages. Come in come in."

Doing so, Martin stepped in and sat. "I don't come in because I have faith, not like god faith but faith in my teams. They do what is asked, and they don't question it, even after time, and time again stuff happens no one says anything."

The suited man leaned up against his desk listening.

"I know that's policy and everything, I've made sure that everyone is keenly aware of that. This time," He shook his head. "One of my good boys is missing."

"Ah yes, Andrew Coleman." Turning around the man got the file. "He's been doing promising work."

It was just as he suspected, something had to have happened that he probably did not want to know about. " I take it you know his where about?"

"Honestly I can't tell you. I'm sure you understand. But the company is going to continue to pay him until such time he can return to work." He laid the file back on the desk and smiled. "Wouldn't want one of our best getting behind on stuff while he was out would we?"

Martin shook his head. "No guess not." He got up from the chair and turned to the door. Pulling the door open he wondered it that might be considered kidnapping. He left the office and returned to his floor responsibilities.

Pacing Megatron waited in his office, he had given the human a week now to replicate the amplifier, he had in fact given him more than what he thought was ample time to get it done. Scrapper had helped every step of the way, and now the machine was rebuilt and scheduled to test. Each time he had questioned Scrapper he had mentioned that the human was doing it; something that Megatron had not exactly expected, then again it was for the most part just a resembling of his original one. Soundwave had found that the flexible metal was a byproduct of their flexisteel. It had been created as a patching compound that would attach too, and mend their 'skin' as well as take on the properties of the one it was attached too. Starscream must have created it in his own lab, that was something that Megatron would have to find for himself. He headed out the door and down to the medical bay, his irritation with his Air Commander did not seem to stop regardless of him being offline. He entered and headed straight for the room Starscream was in. As the door opened he noticed the seeker was missing. Megatron turned right around, his optics burning furiously.

"HOOK, SCRAPPER!" His voice was filled with rage.

Instantly the two jumped up and came out of their separate labs. "Yes Might Megatron?" Scrapper answered.

"Orders were outstanding to keep Starscream here. Where is he?" he barked loudly his raspy vocals dark and threatening.

Rather than argue Scrapper checked the room and read the monitors that had been in it. The monitors still read as if they had not been removed which is why nothing alerted them that anything was wrong. He growled to himself and came out taking up a terminal near where Hook was. "I will go through the camera logs and find out what happened."

Hook caught on and began to check the medical file to see if anything had been altered. His search ended first. "We did not discharge him."

Nodding at least that was something, Scrapper thought. His team was not directly responsible for it, judging by the little servos on the monitors ends someone had taken Starscream. Scrapper fast forwarded through hours for footage as Megatron's anger forced him pace, and seethe. Finally he caught a glimpse of something. He rewound the image and played it back in real time. The optics in the dark room flashed on and some movement was seen at different parts then they died off again. "It would appear that Starscream found away to bring himself back online."

Megatron's larger form came over and loomed over Scrapper, "Play it again."

Scrapper did as ordered and played it back.

"He hasn't left at that point."Megatron pointed out.

Scrapper fast forwarded again until he caught the optics on once more then played it again. "Each time his optics come on he gets more movement."

Hook studied it for a moment. "He is overriding his own code and restarted his systems one by one." The Surgeon answered.

"Fast forward to the point he gets up." Megatron growled.

Doing so, Scrapper watched carefully and made note of each time he saw the optic flash so he could come and check it later. He kept it up till he saw the Seeker sit up and then slowed it.

Starscream let one leg dangle off the edge of the table then the other, he took and opened a compartment on his thigh and removed several sensors. Carefully with precision he slid each of the sensors to the edge of his armor, and on to the servo he had pulled out. Once each one was cautiously set in place he got off the table and tested his movements. Each one slowly and painfully as the looks on his face changed with each one. He looked at the monitors and then aimed his null ray right at the camera, then all was static.

Megatron stepped back and paced furiously. His orders had been followed to the letter yet still his Air Commander was defying him. "I want him found, I want him found NOW!"

Sending that information to Soundwave; Scrapper went about examining the labs for things that might be missing, things that might point them in the direction that Starscream had gone. "Megatron, I've alerted Soundwave, and the rest of the Constructicons. We will begin searching."

Stopping Megatron looked around as those around him began their task. He stepped through the door, and out into the hall. He knew exactly where Starscream's quarters were, and that would be the next likely place that he would be. Using his long powerful legs he keep a long fast stride until he reached the door entrance to the Air Commander's quarters. When the door didn't open he didn't bother with the lock pad. He stepped back and aimed the black fusion cannon at the door and fired. The single sliding door that's edges were embedded in the wall gave way at the center then as it bent pulled itself free of the wall and flew into the room crashing into the desk that was near the back of it. The center area of the door burned, and melted though heat waves rising and the metal itself red hot. Megatron entered, looking around at the surrounding area, he deliberately did not knock or use the pad in an attempt to catch Starscream off guard. There was still some clinging smoke in the air but it was not enough to keep Megatron from seeing that there was no one in that room, to top it off, if Starscream was in one of the other rooms he knew exactly who was in his quarters now. The sound of Megatron's cannon fire was almost signature. The design specs of the ship were something he knew intimately as he was there when they were devised. Starscream's quarters was no exception. He knew that to his left lay the recharge chamber, and to the right the fueling station. Checking the station first would be ideal, as it was smaller, and less likely for the Air Commander to attempt to hide in, having that ruled out he could the search the other larger side. He stepped though cannon first, its automatic shielding and armor practically deflected anything, and even if it got hit with a Null Ray Megatron would just rip the Seeker into bits with his bare hands. As he stepped through he took note that nothing seemed to have been used. He had not refueled, that was only to be expected as in stasis like that energy is hardly used at all, and to top it off, he had been hooked up to a line so that it would not use his tank's fuel. Megatron growled, the logical side of him was only being fuel for the fury that boiled within. He turned and headed straight from one door to the other throwing the desk that blocked his path out of the way with a crash. The recharge chamber door did not open at his approach again he leveled the cannon and blew the door out of his way. He nearly expected to be shot at the instant the blockage was gone, yet nothing happened. He did as he had with the other door and stepped in cannon first. Still nothing. He inspected the rest of the room, and to his surprise it also shown no signs of being used. He kicked the recharge platform knocking it over on to his side, and then opened the COM to the base intercom.

"This is Megatron, all Decepticons are now on high alert. Starscream is to be killed on sight." He then closed the COM and left the rooms.

Take two as she put it, though Nicole was not looking forward to the test again since the pack had 'bit' her last time she was not about to go ahead and back out now. To her she had her foot in the door and was wanting to see where it was going to lead. One thing she was curious about was how was suit going to attach to her if she could not reach around in it to attach the nodes to her bare skin? She wore a tank top and some rather short shorts, thinking that would make it easier to attach the nodes, as well as move around in that exosuit. The jeans and blouse she had on last time worked just fine, but they both seemed to bunch in her elbow and backs of knees leaving small little welts. She stretched and opened door to the hall. Perceptor had made her a small wrist map, that covered for a communicator as well as a watch. She laughed when he had given it to her, telling him that she had seen a movie were a human was giving a similar thing, and it did several different things, but never told time. Wheeljack got a kick out of that one as well, but Ratchet shook his head and said there would be no point in making it look like a watch then. At that Nicole laughed and tested out its features. Now she watched it and the walls around her as she used it to guide her back to Perceptor's lab. She liked having a communicator, she could call up Bumblebee or Wheeljack when she got lonely and talk a bit, making her feel a lot better. Spike was around but he seemed to treat her with little to no consideration. She was really starting not to care though, she was doing what she had planned to do and he was not part of her plan anyway. She walked her own comfortable pace rather than the one that she had been using to keep up with the Autobots. Naturally she had left a little bit early so that she could take her time. She finally had earned enough trust that she did not need an escort every single time she walked around. She looked up at the walls and noticed the patterns that were etched into them. She had not really paid that much attention to them before, but now that she was, it made her curious if that was the language they used. She tried to make it a point to remember to ask. Lately though she had forgotten several things which she had meant to ask, course she figured that if it were important it would come back to her. Nicole finally reached the door to Perceptor's lab this time it opened easily for her and she walked in. The latter's had also been a bit altered so that as she climbed, she would not tire as easily.

"Hey Perceptor," Nicole called as she neared the top of the latter.

"Nicole. Excellent I have just completed the prototype suit." He held it next to her measuring it against her height.

She straight up to make sure he had an accurate measurement. "I've been thinking about how this is gonna work and I want to know how am I supposed to attach the nodes?"

"I've fixed that as well. They will find your skin on their own." He held the suit and opened the top, to allow her enter . She stepped over and into the hole slowly dropping herself down in. Just as Perceptor said, the nodes worked their way out of the suit and attached themselves to her skin. This time they did not seem as painful, at least not yet. She nodded and Perceptor closed the glass shield.

Nicole took a step, trying to acclimate herself to the suit once more. She had a few more trial periods before she had to test out the actual one. She had been thankful to Wheeljack for fine tuning them and getting them to work well with her. Her hands flew out to her sides in effort to keep balance, then after a few steps she had finally got the hang of it. She walked around in a small circle, then wondered. "What made it do that? One moment I was still struggling to get used to it, and the next its responding as if it were a part of me."

"That is an interesting reaction." Perceptor brought up the readouts that had been sent from the apparatus. He stared there looking as Nicole walked about and tested her functions out a little more. She turned kicked and managed the practice work out that Ratchet had created with ease. The stats that were coming in were rather impressive, but seemed rather too perfect. "Nicole, I want to look at it, take it off please."

She nodded in compliance, and popped the glass cover off. She climbed out of it something like crawling out of a sleeping bag. She got up and stood looking at herself and then noticed. "It didn't come off."

Perceptor looked at the suit and the pack that she still wore. "It was made to be like a break away. If the suit was damaged, you could just get another one easily with the pack.

Reaching down she pulled one of the nodes that had attached itself onto her thigh. It did not come off like she had expected, naturally last time the suction cups had hurt, but this was different. It did not appear to have a node, the wire looked liked it went right into her skin only it was colored at the base the same as the wiring. "I don't think that's what happened. She touched the area that was colored and felt her fingers, which made her pull them back rather rapidly then touch it again. She felt it, "Perceptor what else did you do that the pack?"

"To the pack? Nothing, I only set it up so that it would monitor your vital signs." He said still looking at the suit and not her.

Looking at her forearm she pulled it closer to her so she could examine it. It had not look like it had melted, but more like it grew into her. "I don't think this is what was supposed to happen." She tugged at it lightly and watched her skin moved then realized she could feel the pressure of her fingers on the wires.

Ratchet rounded the table and came to examine what was going on. He leaned down and focused his optics on her. "It has attached to you." It was not that he meant to state the obvious, but more so that it would grab Perceptor's attention.

Putting down the suit Perceptor diverted his attention to Nicole. "Of course it is attached to you." He said before he got close enough to realize it was more than he had suspected it should be. He brought down his scope from his shoulder and used it to examine her closer than his optics were able. Rather than that he changed his mind and transformed onto the table and raised his scope and then began directing her where to move so he could see. "Just a little more to the right."

Nicole moved her arm to the right. She was just as curious as they were, and it made her nervous to think that it might not be removable.

"Fascinating." That was Perceptor's word for just about everything that he had no real explanation for. And as anything else the next question was always predicable.

"What is it?" She asked looking down at her arm.

The suction cups were originally made of synthetic skin, something Bumblebee and Spike had picked up years ago for the project. It had worked well enough with Spike, but even then it had not left the spots on him like it had Nicole during the first trial. He increased the magnification and kept it there a little longer. "It is feeding off of you."

"Perceptor, that is what it is supposed to do." Ratchet crossed his arms. "But it isn't supposed to become a part of her."

'Part of her' Nicole winced. She had not liked that thought.

"I can remove it." The scientist answered in a tone that told the others that he would rather not.

"And if you leave it?" Ratchet again was not attempting for the obvious, but it needed said.

It was another awkward silence before Preceptor transformed back into his robot rote mode. "It would benefit if we did not remove it until the project was over, as it will just do the same thing each time we attempt to test it."

She took in a big breath, then let it out in a sigh. "That's going to be easiest isn't it?"

Perceptor nodded. "Unless you want to have minor surgery each time."

"Or she can decide she doesn't want to do it anymore." Ratchet interjected.

"No no, I promised that I would do it and I'm going to do it. It's just a little odd to have this thing attached to me." She touched the wires again. "I feel it. Like it is part of my skin."

Ratchet raised his brow at that one but did not say anything Perceptor did the same but spoke. "I believe that is because your energy has to run through it to convert it."

Nicole supposed that it made sense, after all it was her energy then. It was going to make things a bit more awkward. She thought that the wires and cables would brush up against things and catch on them make her stop painfully. And what if one got torn? Ripped, not from her, but cut by something? Would it hurt? She had no idea, but if she could feel it, then probably. She looked at the pack on her back over her shoulder. "What happens when I want to shower?"

Ratchet looked at Perceptor expectantly.

"Knowing that humans perspire, I made it waterproof. It can shower." Perceptor shrugged, it was logical to do when a human that in the situation would be probably sweating.

"And what about the suit?" If she were to use it with the suit why not keep the suit if it was finished.

Perceptor held it back up, "I believe the readings that were so clear came from the pack, the suit is ready for you. This one you can take with you now."

If it made it easier to move about in the suit she figured it would be best to use the suit as often as she could. She crawled back into it and snapped the glass back on. For a second it felt as if she were being drained but then it was gone. She took a step and had not need to bother getting her balance at all. In fact it seemed to almost anticipate her movement. She smiled, and went though the movements again. This time it was easier as she adapted the movements actual motions into her memory. She couldn't knock it. It was climate controlled, as well as soft inside, well padded. She had fallen several times and had no bruises or anything that would normally come from such things.

Of course he was prepared for this. Starscream had his own little sub base set up for some time now. He would go and check on it several times a year, making sure that its power source was finely tuned and that it was producing enough energy to power it as well as make energon for consumption. Most of it was done on Automation, he had no other choice, as he wanted to keep it secret. He could not bring his wingmates here, since they would in turn be susceptible to interrogation, or manipulation even that damn telepathic reading. He growled to himself and he adjusted and cleaned things up. Every once in a while the area would have an earthquake and it would cause part of the cave to collapse, this last one was not bad but it left a layer of dirt on just about everything. It took him a few hours to get it back in to what he considered to be a tolerable state. He hated the planet for its inability to keep steady. He growled again as the energon that was supposed to be created had not been, that particular machine was damaged from a rather large boulder that had become dislodged and had fallen on it. He cleaned that up and repaired it, since by now someone would have noticed he was missing, he would not be going back to the base any time soon. Rather than being caught stealing some energy, he would simply stay here until he could figure out what it was he would do next. One thing he had not counted on was them finding the lab he had set up. He had contacted humans from his cave and paid them a lot of their currency to set up that lab and study for him so he could have things others did not. He even spent more time in that cave working on things for them to study than he had in his lab back on the Nemesis. The only reason that he allowed his wingmates to go with him to that was they could account for the extra time out when it came down to the report. They never knew what was going on though he did not allow them in on the information that was exchanged.

He stood at the entrance to the cave for a moment looking in at his handy work. The lights along the inside top of the cave faded in and out as they glowed to life their source of energy finally being replaced. Starscream's next step was to go to the lab, he knew that they had taken the amplifier from him, but that did not mean anything when the labs had all the information he needed.

Andrew had picked up something he had never done before. He had started pacing. He had seen Scrapper doing it as the architect had watched him reassemble the generator. He was now pacing next to it looking at the notes he had made against the layout of what Scrapper had done to dismantle it. Something was missing, he was sure of it. "You didn't remove anything from here right?" He and Scrapper argued a little to start with, on why he had to bust it down to bare components, then they actually started to get a long, since they knew the stakes on what was involved.

"No, I kept everything here and no one was allowed in." Scrapper noticed what Andrew had been talking about. "that was not included."

The man shook his head. "That is what I used to fine the output."

Scrapper knew that, it meant they would not get it finished as asked if they did not have that part. The idea of manufacturing it came to mind, but he knew it would take too long and Megatron would not be pleased. Time to enlist aid. He walked out to the general area and called Hook.

Looking up from his data pad Hook glared at Scrapper for a moment. He was not yet ready to do anything. "What do you want?" he kept a stern look on his features.

"I need to know if when you worked on Starscream did you find a part." Scrapper did not know the names of all the things the humans used.

"What is it?" Hook still had not moved, nor did he plan to.

"A caliper of a sort. An energy output refinement device."

Hook shook his head, he had not come across anything that had looked like that. He was not really sure what Scrapper was talking about though. "No, I only removed damaged areas, if it were in the damage than it would not work for you either." Hook went back to reading his data pad as if that was the end of the statement. Hook was a perfectionist. If there had been a melted piece of human what he would consider junk , his skilled hands, and optics would have picked out the difference between it and the rest of the Transformer materials that he had cleared away on Starscream.

"I am going to need a few things then." Andrew said. He frisked his pockets for a pen and paper. He found the pen in his coat pocket, but he had no paper. "Tools?"

Since their technology was so much advanced the Decepticons had not used paper, they did not have biological kinds of trees that Earth did. They had technological improvement, but a data pad to Andrew was rather massive. He wouldn't be able to draw on it the way he had hoped, not to mention it would not recognize his touch like it did its other users. Scrapper looked around and rummaged through a few things getting a glare from Hook that said he had better clean it up when he was done. Finally after practically emptying the contents of one drawer out he found what he was looking for. He handed the small silver sliver to Andrew.

"That should work and we can zoom in to make it larger later." Scrapper said.

Thinking for a moment Andrew walked to the data pad that Scrapper had left on the table. He got down and set about drawing. . The data pad easily recognized the sliver which made it easy for him to do as he wished. He himself did not know Scrapper's or the others particular abilities, he had not been able to find that information on the internet. He had figured by now though that Hook had been the medic. And it was rather obvious how Scrapper had taken the generator apart that he was an architect. He scribbled away a few different views of what he wanted. He could not weld the casing that it would need, but he could wire then entire thing. He got up and looked at it, his body fought him the entire way, he had been down on hands knees for over an hour. His joints ached, and his back cracked as he straightened up. This was the first time he felt older than he actually was.

"Alright I think I got it all." He stepped off the data pad so Scrapper could look at it.

Picking up the data pad Scrapper enlarged the outlines that Andrew had done, he looked at each one as if he were committing it to memory. "You can build this?" he asked.

"I built the last one, I sent those to the machine shop and they sent me back the casing." He said rather proud of himself. He was not expecting these guys to be impressed with him, nor was he expecting thanks so he just waited for Scrapper to finish. He began to wonder if they would have the pieces that would connect it, something else occurred to him then as well. He was not sure they would have anything that he would need for the board. "Scrapper, do you have any of the wires and connecters here?"

Scrapper scanned over the list of what was needed and then looked at Andrew. "If you wanted to make it my size yes. These? No. But we can procure them rather easily."

4NaNoWriMo


	9. Chapter 8 Doors Open

Chapter 8. Doors Open

"This is intolerable," Starscream's voice was low and harsh opposed to the high screechy one he used when thoroughly pissed off.

The management team was completely confused to them they had made a deal with them and taken Andrew for a while, it was hard to understand why now that he had come for him if he already had him. "Sir, you took him." It was the man in the suit that went by Forester than spoke up.

"I assure you I did nothing of the sort." He said in protest, his hands posted harshly on his hip plating imitating a dismayed human.

"Sir, one very much like you in Black and Purple came with one that was almost all Blue, but he had no wings, he was the one that Transformed and we took him in the center. He looked like a micro cassette player.

"Soundwave." Starscream scowled. He had not meant to say the name, and it would not really mean much to these humans, but it told Starscream would exactly had happened. There was no damage to the building so Soundwave had taken him without a struggle. "The black and purple one he flew away?"

"No sir. He" Forester did not know how to really explain it. "Just sort of vanished and a bright purple flash."

That meant that Skywarp had defiantly been there. All the signs were there. Soundwave's manipulations were notorious, and Skywarp was not one to keep secrets from Megatron. "Do you have anything ready for me?" He said glaring at them expectantly.

"No sir." Forester cleared his throat. "Andrew was to start work on your next project, but he is not here."

"Then why haven't you put someone else on it, MR. Forester?" The tone that Starscream used dripped with sarcasm.

"I have sir, but he has not done anything on it. He was only transferred over a week ago, he is still prepping his lab." Which was true, they had given them two weeks to bring Andrew back but when that passed Forester knew that things would still have to move forward. "He was not as familiar with some of the requirements that it will take to create such a thing."

Starscream growled, "I suggest you get someone to help him. I want it done. It wound be rather awful if your funding was suddenly removed wouldn't it?"

"Yes sir, I will see that he gets any help he can use." Forester nodded. "It would be unfortunate indeed."

"Good, I shall expect results next time I arrive." Starscream took a few steps that was in the direction of his cave then Transformed lighting his jets as he did so, taking off into the air easily.

She tossed and turned, having a nightmare was hard work, worse yet when you have not woke up yet. Nicole's body had not got used to the extra attachments that had been on her. The pack was not heavy, nor did it limit her movement, but it made it uncomfortable to sleep on, and odd when she backed into things and felt the cold wall when it touched. So far she had not got anything caught, but the first time she wanted to shower she realized that she would have to cut off the clothes she had been wearing to get them off. Putting on clean clothes was something else, it had to go over the pack on her back now, and not under. The first time she got into the suit then got out, she noticed that pack itself was starting to fuse to her as well, that was too much she then asked if there was something that could be done to keep it from doing so. Perceptor was not actually sure, each time it became more of a part of her, the more responsive the suit became. So he really did not want remove it, but did so at her asking. He created a bit of a vest that would keep it from having skin contact to her, and the results began to plateau. The suit was doing everything that was asked, the only thing that was really effected by the lack of contact was the transformation ability that gave it the little wheeled rover that helped her and then Spike keep up while the Autobots themselves were in car modes. Before the pack was removed from its place on her back she was able to control and go in and out of it with ease. Now that it was removed there was a slowness to it, hesitation as she had to will it into place.

She woke up with a start and a sudden exhale of air. The lights dimmed on just a little as she had programmed them so she could see to get around but not enough to blind her. She got up and headed to the bathroom to wash her face. The lights over the mirror were a lot brighter and when the blinked on her hands suddenly rose to shield her from the brightness.

She got the towel and turned on the water till it was warm then placed the towel under the stream then applied it to her face. It was nice, and it helped to calm her nerves. She did not actually recall what she had dreamt about, but she felt as if she had been exerting herself rather harshly. Climbing or something as her arms were tired as well as her legs. At first she did not notice anything different, but as she began to actually wake from the deep sleep that her body had been she noticed that the pack had managed to become fused again while she slept. That was a first. She took in a deep breath and tried to calm herself, having the pack removed the first time was a pain in the ass, it had hurt not just her but on the pack side. There was no real way to numb it, on the pack side. Each time Perceptor had taken the scalpel to it was as if he was just cutting into her skin, no pain killer, no nothing just cuts. Nicole turned around and looked at it, the wounds had not even healed yet, but it had fused in the spots that had not be covered. She shook her head and leaned back against the wall and moved the pack. Tensing real fast she stopped, she even felt a small trickle of blood that ran down her left side where the wound had reopened . She did her best to reattach the bandage that had been on it and stop the bleeding. After a few moments of working around the mirror, Nicole managed to get it done and the bleeding had stopped. She stood there her shirt with small spots of blood here and there. She went to her room and grabbed another changed shirts carefully so that she did not aggravate it any more than she already had. And then turned the water on again. She liked this particular shirt, she was not going to let it get blood stained. She filled the sink and put the shirt in it, and then headed back into her room.

The clock told her that it was only three thirty am. She laid down on the bed gingerly, trying to get comfortable without putting any pressure on the wound. The only way she managed to do so was lay flat on her front, and that was not a spot she was used to sleeping in.

Dawn broke, and the lights in her room told her so as she yawned yet again without having fallen back asleep. There was nothing for her to do here, other than practice with the suit, and that was not something Nicole wanted to do until she had shown Perceptor what had happened again and told him why. She turned over and felt the ache of the incisions then turned back, she was done trying it was time to walk about and do something with her time. She fixed the bandages again, just to make sure that it would not mess her clothes and then dawned them. She went into the hall and let her 'watch' guide her to the control room where she knew Blaster would be sitting, probably bopping his head to the unheard music. In just a but she crossed the threshold that transitioned the hall into the control room and there just as predicted was Blaster.

"Hey Blaster?" She placed her hand softly on his leg to get his attention.

He looked down on her with a smile that faded quickly as he saw the kind of condition she was in. "What's up little lady?" Blaster's voice still kept that light tone to it.

"I couldn't sleep, and this pack isn't helping." She rubbed the palm of her hand on her eye and then looked up at him.

"What's the matter?" He put his hand down for her to climb on to it.

Rather than do any real work she sat down on the hand, and let her legs dangle over the edge, she was too tired really to be scared of falling like she had been in the past. "I had a nightmare I think, I don't remember what I was dreaming about, when I woke up I felt as though I had been climbing all night. Arms, legs, both tired, even breathing hard." She took that second to yawn again. "I got up to wash my face, mom used to tell me that all you ever had to do was wash the nightmare from your eyes and it would forever be gone, and that's always worked."

Blaster filed that away for later, humans always seemed to have their own little odd traditions, but as far as he could see it worked much like a medical placebo, if they thought it worked, it sometimes actually did. "And then what happened?" The fact that she kept yawning bothered him, he had hung out with several humans on many occasions and he knew that it meant they had needed to rest.

"I hadn't noticed it at first, you know because I was looking at my face, not it. What I noticed though is when I moved it didn't slide as easily as it should have." She shook her head, it has not slid as easily as she had hopped after its removal, but that was not the point.

The larger boom box type transformer looked at her seriously, his work still going in the background of his mind but he looked like he was giving her all his attention.

"So naturally I looked. It had reattached itself to me." She lifted the back of her shirt up just a little so he could see. "I wasn't in the suit, I'm not sure why it did that or if it was related to my dream or ." She trailed off for a second. "I know what I am doing could help you out a lot, but I would be lying to say I wasn't scared of what I might become."

"Perceptor gets caught up in his work some times, but the man would never do anything to hurt you." He almost chuckled at the thought. "Perceptor is just trying to better us all."

"I know, and that's why I agreed, but right now look at me. I hardly slept, I feel like I might drift off at any second, but the pack and the incisions are too much. Each time I turn over or move they light up as if a Christmas Tree." She did not know if he would get that analogy or not, but it was the best one she could think of.

"Heh, you're probably the only human that has ever experienced how we feel." Blaster smiled. "Each time we get something replaced makes it sore, and hard to recharge. The welds are sensitive." He smirked a little to see if she had caught on to what he was meaning.

"You guys feel like that huh?" That made her think. She was not sure she had wanted to be one of them, not exactly, but that is what seemed to be happening.

"Something like that, it isn't all fun and games that's for sure." He looked up at the console, and adjusted his search. "Think about it, we're just like you only metal, it hurts."

"Not just like me, I can't interchange my arm for another one if it gets broken." She smiled.

"Ah true, true, but there are parts we just can't exchange. And by the looks of things with you, you might be able to do something similar if that synthetic is clinging to you Perceptor might be able to create parts out of it for you." It did not seem like a bad idea if it were possible, but the look on Nicole's face told him that it was not something she wanted.

"If I can keep from losing something I'd rather not." She rubbed her arms together at the thought of losing one.

"No worries there little lady I know exactly what you mean. I don't like losing mine either." Blaster was now curious what the rest of the pack looked like now. "Hey mind if I had a gander?"

For a second she had not really realized what Blaster was talking about but then she turned around and lifted the back of the tee shirt so he could see it. "Na, go for it, at least it's on my back and not my front that would have been a little awkward."

He chuckled as he looked, there was a great deal of things working on it, and the level of its energon seemed to be full. He was curious if that had anything to do with how it was reacting to her. The energon that the pack would produce would be unlike most energon that they had been accustomed to, it would have a high healing capacity, due to a humans natural immune system. There were several ports on it and a few switches, but he did not know exactly what Perceptor was doing so he did not want to change anything. He placed his finger against the side of it opposite where she had opened the wound the night before, luckily. Being, a being of sound, he wanted to feel if there was vibration coming from it, obviously it was mechanical, and most of them had a unique hum that he had come to associate with each one of his Autobot team mates. Sure enough there was a signature sound vibration that he sensed coming from it. From that point on he would be able to search that sound out and find her, well the pack using his own abilities.

"Blaster." She turned her head to look at him. "Blaster?"

"Yeah?" He stopped listening to the vibration for a second.

"You're finger is cold." She let her shirt drop, though his hand and finger kept it from going all the way.

"Oh sorry." He smiled and let go. It was odd. The Autobots were essentially, what humans would call a warm blooded species, their bodies kept an inner temperature when the outer temperature fluctuated, and did not need sun light to help warm them. The outer appendages just like on humans though would cool easily, and since the Transformers could with stand a much greater temperature difference than a human they tended to remain cool most of the time. "Hang on a sec." He put the tip of his finger back in the place he had just removed it from. "Listen see if you hear this." As one of his abilities he was able to centralize sound waves in just about any spot. That's what he was doing now, focusing them at his finger and sending them into the metal casing of the pack.

Nicole ignored the cool touch a little longer and listened as he asked. She felt the vibrations on the pack and tired to tune into them. She felt the pulse of the beat first, then tried to hone in on what it was he was playing. "Turn it up a little."

Blaster nodded, and increased the volume a little still keeping it out of actual ear volume.

After another moment Nicole smiled, she heard the music that he was playing, and began to bop her head to the beat a little. "I hear it."

Again Blaster chuckled to himself. "After Perceptor is done with his little project why don't you come see me I'll hook you up with some good tunes."

"I'll have to take you up on that." She turned from him disconnecting the music, and taking a much more serious tone. "Right now I'd settle for a few hours sleep."

"I think I might have one thing that can help you with that." He turned to the console and worked for a few moments while Nicole tried her best to act interested. A few seconds later he turned back to her, take this and play it in your room it will relax you might help you sleep more soundly instead of moving around."

She took the small chip and nodded. "Thanks." Then hopped back into his hand so he could put her down. "I'll try it."

The Decepticon leader was never one to be patient. He understood what had gone on with the amplifier, and it still irritated him that it had pushed his schedule back the few days it had taken to remanufacture the needed fine tuning instrument. He had expected Scrapper to help or even do most of the work, only it was much faster and easier to let the human Andrew do it. The problem with that was he need rest on a regular basis. Last time he had asked for a progress report he had got the update from the human himself, it had amused Megatron somewhat just how proud the human was that he was getting things done a head of his own schedule. The tuner, was rather a lot more complicated than Megatron suspected a human was capable of, but this human seemed to know what he was doing. That alone was nothing short of amazing on a planet full of humans that could not tell their heads from their afts as Megatron would say it. Currently he was headed on his way to the labs to see if they were going to finish the tuner. It was just so happened that the turner is what made the difference in turning the generator into the amplifier.

Upon entering the lab her could hear the hum of the generator, which pleased him greatly. He enter the room and watched for a moment before approaching and demanding the progress report.

Scrapper stood back his arms cross his chest while Andrew adjusted the tuner and listened. He could see the material on the inside slowly flexing and lengthening out making more of a flat surface on the inside. The thought of using something like this to their advantage seemed rather morbid, but was right up Scrapper's ally. He preferred to create his things out of those that he had killed in battle. He noticed that it was creating power, self sustaining, but only just.

It was a little nerve racking to be working with just his clothes, the company had made several rules about safety equipment but he had not listed it when he had sent his list to Soundwave thus he did not get it, he knew that had been his own fault really. He looked at his notes and kept adjusting, watching closely on how the generator reacted. He made the last adjustment and watched it as it hummed. All the gauges were set just like he had tested it the last time, but the digital ones here were much better, and were not melting. If only he had access to things like this in the lab, though he thought about that and considered what that would mean, and well he would rather not have to deal with the Decepticon Leader's demands if he did not have to. He had not been started when he saw Megatron enter; he had actually prepared himself to give explanation on what was going on, as he had not yet completed the process. He flipped the switch and turned it off, to which each of the transformers present looked directly at him.

"I know it looks bad, but it didn't have the other abilities until Jimmy suggested reversing the polarity." It was obvious that he needed to say something before he got yelled at.

"Impossible." Scrapper said shaking his head. "It cannot handle anything like that."

"It did Scrapper. That's why they came and took it." Andrew did not want to point a finger at who had taken it because he did not actually know.

"I do not see how." Scrapper protested more.

Andrew went about changing the necessary links to complete the process of changing it over. "Give me a minute here and I'll turn it back on and we'll see what happens."

Looking on with interest Megatron shifted his weight to the other foot so he could lean slightly and see just what it was that Andrew was doing.

Finishing the switch Andrew stepped back, "So if it explodes and kills me then what?"

Scrapper looked at Megatron for an answer. He himself did not really care but the fact that they had gone though the trouble of getting the human might mean that Megatron would still want him despite the failure, to fix whatever it was that had not been right.

The Lead took and grabbed a rather large piece of sheet metal that had been on a nearby table and placed it between the generator and Andrew. "It would be a shame to lose your talents so soon."

Andrew looked at the wall then his control box. He noticed that Megatron had managed to get the only one that had a small slot in it, he looked through it and then went about powering up the generator once more.

The machine hummed to life slowly, the wiring going back to its thin state then stretching thinner. The new apparatus that Scrapper attached to the top was a collector. It would siphon off any excess energy that it produced that was not used to power the machine itself. While in the process he had made itself sustaining once it had engaged what Andrew considered full speed. The hum changed, as it engaged and warmed up to speed. Megatron watched with interest at the top part of the siphon began to glow.

Taking an empty cube which they used to collect their energon in Scrapper placed it next to the amplifier and connected the wire to it. It filled near instantly, and he exchanged it for another, then another. Until they had successfully filled twenty cubes. The power was turned off and Andrew stepped out from behind the wall. "I think that is a good test." He remarked proud of himself once more.

"Excellent test."Megatron nearly purred. "Now what is the possibility of creating something that will be of more use to us?"

For an instant Andrew was not sure what he had meant, but then it popped into his mind that other than him only Rumble and Maybe Frenzy were small enough to get in work on the device. "I suppose it depends on how much more of that wiring you have." Andrew shrugged a little, it was not like he was trying to aggravate anyone.

Standing or a moment looking over the amplifier, Megatron stayed silent. He could see how Starscream could have used this to his advantage, and been able to sway the Decepticons into following him. That however was not going to happen. It made him sneer a little more at the fact that his Air Commander had not yet been caught. Somehow he had managed to mask his energy signature from all their computers. One thing he was certain of was he was Decepticon Leader and always would be. "I find whatever materials you require, I would want one more test amplifier created before I put them into full production. If this works, then we will no longer need an outside power source."

Scrapper nodded. First they were going to have to find where and how Starscream made the material the properties were just slightly altered to one they used currently as a medical bandage. Everything else he would see was up and running or provided so that it would be ready when they had the metal.

Something bothered Optimus. It had been several weeks since he had seen or heard of any raids by the Decepticons. It was unlike Megatron to sit around idle, which mean that he was up to something. What was the next question. He kept up on Perceptor's reports of how Nicole was doing in the project. He himself had not known anything to attach itself to an organic like this had. He had talked to her several times as well and though she seemed rather bright and cheerful it was obvious she was frightened that it would be permanent. The fusion had not taken place on any muscle tissue or even down to the bone. It just seemed to be sticking to her, the thing that bothered him about this the most was that she felt it. The way the energy was being transferred augmented her senses. If this was going to work and she were indeed attached to him or one of his fellow Autobots and they sustained an injury would she too feel it then with the packs systems linked to theirs? It was something he would have to speak to Perceptor about, it that was a possibility, the he would have to shut down the project once more until that could be cleared up. A human body could only tolerate so much, and in the optics of Optimus it was not something he wanted to be responsible for. He picked up and read the daily report once more. It was all quiet. He sent out a little over half his squad to see if they could find any suspicious activity. Thus far nothing had been reported at all.

Nicole had come to visit him and talk about what was going to happen if the project worked. Optimus was curious himself as he had a freedom policy, if she had wished to leave she had every right to do so, but if she had wanted to stay what would that mean? He told her that he would discuss it with Prowl and Jazz his two most trusted officers and get back to her on it. If she had decided that she had indeed wanted to stay that would make her a working part of the Autobot unit, and in that would give her other rights and things she would be privileged to. Something that Spike had not even been given. After the meeting and a little longer in thought he had called her back and she had returned. It was said that if she decided to stay that she would have to choose a partner. Someone else that would take the augmentation on and she could attach to. Knowing that she looked a little dishearten, but agreed. She stated that thus far she really did not know any of them well enough to do that with. Out of that came the question, what kind of link would be possible. She informed him of how Blaster was able to send sound though it, once she was connected to an Autobot would other signals would she be able to receive? That seemed to open whole other can of worms as Optimus too wondered just what might happen.

Of course that was the next test. Nicole found herself wondering about the base, who would bother to link to her she had no clue. Bumblebee would be an obvious choice, but there were issues with that. For instance his friend ship with Spike, not to mention that his smaller size would make it rather hard regardless. Wheeljack had been another thought, but he tended to blow himself up, and Nicole was not really ready for that. Ratchet was too cranky and had already told Preceptor that he did not want that involved with it. She was walking absently not watching her map since she had no real destination. Perceptor was not one to go into battle as often as the others, he was the one that made it possible for them to come back and be cleaned up, or well that is how she thought about it. So that meant to really get the most use out of it she would have to be connected to one of the more warrior types. She thought about that for a while turning on orange corner and headed down the hall. It would be kind of cool to be partners with Optimus, but she figured that would be out of the question since he had to deal with Megatron, and just the thought of the name gave her a chill. She had heard lots of stories from the Autobots on just how bad he was. The stories of death and merciless killing seemed to have no end and really it made her wonder of it was even possible they were all true. That's when Nicole asked Optimus, who had brought out a holo crystal, and shown her some of the historic battles that he himself had been in. It was shocking, yet somehow not. She found herself at the door to Optimus' office again, though she did not step close enough to activate it. She had not wanted to bother the leader, but she seemed drawn here by something. Maybe she would ask him if he had an Autobot in mind that would be suit able for the project.

There was not much left to do for now, Andrew had to wait until the Decepticons found the materials that were needed to create a second bigger more powerful amplifier, so here he sat in his room away from them toying with the computer and its limited access. It had humans internet, but was for the most part locked out when it came to Decepticon functions. Surfed the news, played a few games checked an email, that's when it dawned on him how long he had been gone. He had a few emails that were overdue bills, he quickly logged in and paid everything, which confused him once more. He had not been to work, and was not even sure if the Company knew where he was or what he was doing; thus he figured he would be fired, and his account should not have had very much left in it. He logged into his bank account only to see that it had still been receiving his paycheck along with a rather large lump sum which had no tag attached to see where it came from. Once everything was settled, and he did not feel like once the Decepticons were done with him he was going to be out on the street he surfed a little more. One thing he noticed was there had been a missing persons report filed on him, it came up as part of his email, the contact number was nothing he remembered, which made him wonder who had reported it. He took out his phone and noticed he had no reception. Okay that was stupid, of course he would not have any reception this far under the surface of the Ocean. Instead he replied to the email, and when the address showed up he realized who had been looking for him. Jimmy. He composed his light hearted note and sent it off hoping that Jimmy would see that he was fine, and in good spirits and stop worrying. He checked his little haunts and other things he did while at home then sat back and wondered a little longer. He had expected to have several emails wondering what happened to him. But the only thing he could find was the missing persons note. He decided to send a mass email out to family, after all if the missing persons thing they might get worried and call the cops or even send out people looking for him. It was almost an amusing idea, people wondering the streets and cops having descriptions of him driving their patrol cars. Though they could never find him. It was not something he wanted, but thought was amusing. He got up and stretched then sat back down. The room was just fine, actually felt more like home then his home had. Andrew was not exactly confined, no one told him he had to stay in his room nor did they tell him he was barred from wondering about. Problem was they were not exactly helpful and his first attempt had him stuck wondering around for several hours. He got back into his internet mode and decided he was going to try to do some more research on finding out about these Decepticons now that he had a better understanding on them.

4NaNoWriMo


End file.
